Pesto Roasted Potatoes

This week my market had baby rainbow potatoes - white, red and purple.  I loved how all the colors were combined into one bag, so I to try them.  I was planning to roast them with just a little oil, salt and pepper, but then decided to make use of my basil plant and make some pesto to coat the potatoes. Wow, what a great idea.  Anyone that likes pesto should try this - you may use  store-bought pesto, but homemade always tastes better and is much healthier!

Pesto Roasted Potatoes
serves 4
Ingredients
1 24 oz bag of baby potatoes
1/4 cup fresh basil
1 clove garlic
2 teaspoons pine nuts
2 tablespoons olive oil
parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400.  Wash, dry and cut the potatoes into halves or quarters, depending on size so that they are all similar sized-pieces.
Put potatoes in a large bowl, add a tablespoon of olive oil and a liberal amount of salt and pepper; mix well.
In a mini food processor, chop basil, garlic, pine nuts and remaining oil; mix in with potatoes.  Grate parmesan cheese into the bowl and mix.
Place potatoes on a foil-lined jelly roll pan sprayed with Pam.  Roast for 20 minutes, take out of oven and turn potatoes over to cook evenly.  Roast another 10-20 minutes until tender. 

My Irish Dinner

While I love celebrating St. Patrick's Day (several times over), there is one thing I do not partake in: eating corned beef.  As a pescatarian, I don't touch the stuff.   Luckily, there are plenty of other foods to eat to celebrate the day.

This year I made a souped up version of mashed potatoes and broiled cod with dill sauce (not sure how Irish that is, but dill is green!).  Here is a quick rundown of how I made them. 

Cabbage and Potato Bake

Preheat oven to 400. 

In a large pot, prepare mashed potatoes to your liking (I used 5 Yukon golds, kept skin on and left a little lumpy)

Add parboiled cabbage (cut into 1 inch squares) to the pot of potatoes.

Stir in some scallions and mustard (Coleman's is best).

Put potato mixture into a sprayed casserole dish. 

Top liberally with shredded Irish cheddar.

Bake for about 20 minutes until cheese is bubbly.

  

 

Broiled Cod with Dill Sauce

Rinse and pat dry cod filets. 

In a small bowl, mix together mayo, dijon mustard, horseradish, and fresh dill.  Make enough to cover the cod filets; use as much or as little as you want according to taste.

Place cod in sprayed shallow baking dish.  Season with salt and pepper and fresh lemon juice.

Put cod under broiler for about 7 minutes.  Take out and spread dill mixture over top of cod.  Put back under broiler for another 2-3 minutes.  Cod is ready when it flakes with a fork. 

 

Who needs corned beef?

Sunday Dinner

This weekend we got our first taste of spring.  It was wonderful.  Having the sun out and windows open just transforms my mood.  Hopefully, it's here to stay!

While doing some things around the house, I had on an episode of Barefoot Contessa.  She was making all sorts of things with fresh produce.  One of the dishes was something she calls Scalloped Tomatoes.  When I hear the word "scalloped" I usually associate it with the creamy, heavy potato dish that I would prefer to eat on a cold winter night.  This was nothing like that.  This dish screamed spring to me.  Right away, I knew what I was making for dinner.  

Here is how I made it,  I changed the name to what I thought was more appropriate.


Baked Bruschetta

Ingredients
olive oil
12" Italian baguette
1-2 cloves minced garlic
3 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped (I would have used more if I had)
pinch of sugar or splenda
salt and pepper
fresh basil, chopped
freshly grated parmesan cheese

Preaheat oven to 350. 
Coat large pan with olive oil on medium heat.  Cut baguette into cubes; add to pan.
Coat bread cubes with oil.  Heat for 5 minutes to toast on all sides. 
In the meantime, combine tomatoes, salt, pepper, sugar and garlic into a bowl.  [I like to use a microplane grater for my garlic -I find it's easier that mincing with a knife].
Add tomato mixture to pan.   Cook for another 5 minutes. Take off heat and mix in basil. 
Put into sprayed casserole dish.  Grate lots of fresh parm on top.  
Bake for 30-45 minutes.
Drizzle with olive oil and serve!

This made 3 - 4 servings as a side dish.  Next time I make it, I will definitely plan to use more tomatoes.  I suppose you could use canned diced tomatoes in a pinch, but would drain them first because the extra moisture might change the bread's consistency. 

I served it with spinach and walnut stuffed founder.  I wanted to keep the meal light and felt like this would be a perfect fish in keeping with my spring theme.  While the fish was excellent, I think the star of the show was the bruschetta.  I will definitely be making this again!