It's so Damn HOT - Milk was a Bad Choice - Pea Pesto Might Not Be...

Hi Guys, as our fellow Washingtonians know it is HOT outside. This week's temperatures are supposed to be some of the hottest of the summer, and it's so humid you don't know if you're sweating or if it's just the air sticking to you.  As much as I love the outdoors, I have decided to force myself to stay inside as much as possible to wait out the duration of this horrendous heat and humidity wave.  I figured that since you're all inside you might want to give this really simple recipe a try...

Just because you're stuck in the confines of your own (in our case) tiny apartment it doesn't mean you should be reduced to eating cheese sandwiches.  I have found that the days that MUST be spend indoors can be a great time for kitchen experimentation.  I have created pretty delicious treats from some of the ingredients in my kitchen.  One of my favorites is a pesto made from peas - this is pretty simple and also so refreshing on cold pasta, as a dip if you thicken it up a little, or as a spread on those cheese sandwiches you're eating - all you need:

 - 1 bag of frozen peas - thawed

 - Olive Oil (to taste - you control the thickness!)

 - 1 cup Basil and/or Mint (mint lightens it up just a little more)

 - 1/2 cup Parmasean cheese - I like to use the harder version of the cheese instead of grated so it can replace the texture of pinenuts in   regular pesto - pinenuts really make me unhappy

 - Blend and you are good to go! 

Comment or e-mail us some of the things you've whipped up in your kitchen from pantry-found ingredients and we will try and whip it up and let you know how it goes in a post!

Enjoy the great indoors,

E

Creamy Grilled Polenta with Basil "Pesto"

So last week E and I got a little creative in the kitchen after I saw this recipe for grilled polenta online that we modified slightly (http://epi.us/jJ2PUV). Prior to this I'd never had polenta before and was pretty curious as to what it tasted like / how it would turn out sans grill. It wasn't as crispy as it could have been, but it was creamy and delicious in its own right. We started out by making our own pesto-type sauce (3/4 olive oil, fresh basil, garlic, sea salt and pepper - see photo below) and brushed this onto the pre-made polenta I purchased at Trader Joe's (I love TJ's. For reals). We then heated up a skillet and went to town. The recipe suggested cooking each side for ~10 minutes - we got a little impatient with the second side but nevermind that. After taking the polenta circles out of the pan we topped them with  our "pesto" and some goat cheese crumbles. We ate our new creation with baked tilapia (also from TJ's) and each of us had a veggie of our choice (me, oven-roasted balsamic asparagus. E had baby carrots) and dug in. The whole meal worked really well together and I'm so happy we went out on the culinary limb - it was well worth the risk! We ended up making the other half on the George Forman grill and it worked out pretty much the same - I don't know if I'd recommend stove top over the GF (the latter certainly was less to clean up). Let me know if any of you try this recipe - I definitely recommend!


Love,
Chef T

Pretty simple with the pre-made polenta

Pesto Sauce - super easy

E's dinner - polenta was the best part!