Open Table

Salad Dressing

What a day. We landed in France at three. By five thirty I am standing in the aisle of Carrefour when my phone rings. It is my husband. Our son has fallen and cracked his head on the rocks... There is blood everywhere.

Luckily, we see a doctor very quickly and to our relief tells us he will be fine, no stitches needed. 

With my shopping trip cut short we are having salad tonight with my favorite dressing:

SALAD DRESSING - Serves 4

Ingredients 
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 1.5 Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, 1 Tablespoon of agave or runny honey, 1 Teaspoon of wholegrain mustard, 1 Clove grated garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper

- Place all ingredients in a jam jar, shake for ten seconds

If this post looks slightly odd it is because I am doing it through my phone ... The Internet connection is down ... If I don't manage another post for a couple of days you know why.

PESTO

My husband was at work today.  As it is a bank holiday we thought we would take the children in to see him so they could see what Daddy does all day.  

I realised Daddy had some big shoes to fill when on the way our daughter talked me through what everyone in Daddy Pig's office did, colouring being the highlight.  She then went on to ask if there might be smoke or ladders at Daddy's work... apparently Mr Incredible has a computer but also is a super hero.

We had to agree to disagree that daddy was not a super hero, her logic was if she was a super hero (she showed me her Elastic girl arms) then Daddy was defiantly one and there would be smoke and ladders.

Luckily the office, without ladders or smoke, was a great sucess.  The headset his colleague had was perfect for pretending to be Dora the Explorer.  

We finally got home after remembering a little too late that the Notting Hill Carnival was on and having to tube, bus, bus and then walk our way round it we were all tried and I did not fancy cooking.

I reached the the magimix, it would have to be Pesto ... I put it on brown pasta and threw in some peas to make myself feel it was healthy.

PESTO - 10 Servings

Ingredients 

80g Fresh basil, 60g Grated parmesan, 40g Pine nuts, 1 Grated clove of garlic, 125mil Extra virgin olive oil, Salt and pepper, 1/4 lemon

• Put the basil, parmesan, 30g of the pine nuts (hold back 10g for later) and garlic into the food processor
• Blend for 20 seconds and squeeze in the le 
  mon juice
• Now you slowly add in the oil.  Turn the processor on again and slowly pour the oil into the spout of the food processor, once combined taste
• Add salt and pepper if required and the remaining pin nuts and blitz for 3 seconds (this will give a nutty texture to the pesto) and place in jar in fridge.  It may separate slightly while in fridge so stir before eating

Cooking notes: This recipie makes enough for ten serving spoons for pesto.  I tend to cook 100g of pasta per person and combine the 100g with 2 tablespoons of pesto (this amount will feed two children).  If you don’t use it all at once don’t worry, it tastes better on the second day and will last in the fridge for at least a week.  If you are not going to use it for a day or two add a thin layer of olive oil to the top of the pesto which will seal it.

Adapting: Add in some whole toasted pine nuts and halved cherry tomatoes for a bit of extra flavour and texture.