At Market...Lemon Basil

I've learned the hard way that lemon basil doesn't sit around and wait for you to decide what to do with her...especially on a particularly hot and sunny day. She doesn't care if you give her a cool spritz of water, or trim her stems, or give her some nice water to drink in a pretty little vase. Here today, gone tomorrow...more like here this morning, gone by this afternoon. She's a pretty little thing, but fussy too. Kind of like my daughter. I know about the sensitive types, believe me. Rumor has it, I used to be one myself. We sensitive types need a plan of action implemented before we can put up a fight....before we even know what hits us. That way, it's done before we've had time to wilt, and usually, we discover it wasn't that bad after all.

That's why, just moments after arriving home from the farmers' market, this herb met with a what seems like a rather violent end, ground up by sharp blades in my blender. But truth be told, it was just the beginning of a beautiful marriage--a marriage of olive oil and garlic, of asiago cheese and pine nuts, and of course the princess herself, lemon basil.

If you've ever caught a whiff of her heady perfume, you'll understand why she's named after the citrus fruit. A scent as bright as her color, she has the ability to transform any dish calling for fresh basil from fantastic to fantabulous. So it's no surprise that she makes ordinary pesto extraordinary. Of course you could eat it over pasta, or drizzle it over roasted asparagus, but I like to blend it with a bit of mayo and use it to spread on toasted bread to make one heck of a BLT sandwich. Bliss!








Lemon Basil Pesto

Lemon basil is a variety of basil that can be found at your farmers' market. If you cannot find it, and want to add a lemon essence to your pesto, add the zest from one lemon, not the juice, as the acidity will destroy the bright green color. Enjoy with over pasta, roasted vegetables, as a dip or as a sandwich spread.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of lemon basil (about 2 loose cups)
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4-1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup asiago cheese
pinch of salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. Wash basil well to remove any grit and cut the leaves off the stems. Place in a blender or food processor along with the garlic.

2. Using the feed tube, slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whizzing the basil and garlic until you get a smooth puree.

3. Add the pine nuts and cheese and blitz until smooth.

4. Add the salt and pepper, taste for seasoning and serve immediately. If you have made this ahead, drizzle a thin layer of olive oil over the top to help maintain its bright green color, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Pesto also freezes well.

BLT Pizza

In honor of the CPK (or California Pizza Kitchen) that is opening on Monday within walking distance of my house, and our Pizza Friday tradition, I decided to make BLT pizza tonight. Their version is pretty good, with crisp, shredded, mayonnaise-dressed, iceberg lettuce on top, but mine is better. At least I think so. Mostly because I know where all the ingredients came from, made it myself, and ate it on my back deck surrounded by chirping birds, cool breezes and the people I love the most. And honestly, the total cost to make it was probably less than $5 and we didn't have to wait in an unruly line to be seated and served by a newbie waitstaff.

To call it a recipe would be presumptuous, because it's really just a simple cheese pizza with a salad on top. But I'll give you the basic method here, and as always, feel free to give it your own unique spin.

BLT Pizza

one recipe of your favorite pizza dough

1 15 oz. can of tomato sauce

1 clove garlic, grated

1 T oil

handful chopped fresh basil, or 1 T dried

8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 pound baby lettuce

3 T mayonnaise (Hellman's or Best Foods is fine)

2 t white wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

1 C cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

Preheat oven to 500 degrees for one hour with a pizza stone on the bottom rack. Let dough rise according to package direction (or at room temp for one hour). Carefully stretch dough to approximately a 14 inch circle and set on a floured surface or parchment paper. Do not roll out, or you will smoosh it and it will be flat, but rather grasp the edges and turn it around as if you are turning a steering wheel. If the dough isn't stretching easily, let it rest for another 15 minutes, covered with a damp cloth. Cover with a cloth and let it rest while you make the tomato sauce.

In a small saucepan, heat 1 T olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and stir, then add tomato sauce and basil. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat. I use this simple sauce on nearly all my tomato-sauced pizzas.

Spread about half of the tomato sauce onto stretched dough. Top with shredded cheese and using a pizza peel, carefully lift and slide out onto the heated stone (or bake in a floured pizza pan on top of the stone). Bake for 15 minutes, or until the crust is a dark golden brown. Remove from oven.

In a large bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar and salt and pepper. Toss in lettuce and tomatoes. Sprinkle on top of pizza, along with crumbled bacon. Slice into wedges and serve.

At Market...Tomatoes

Okay, I realize that they probably aren't at your market, but they are at mine. And seeing them this weekend reminded me of a very disturbing article I read recently about modern slavery, and how it is very much alive in the tomato industry, specifically. It seems that tomato farmers in Florida (and Mexico) especially are taking advantage of their workers, to a horrifying extent and most, if not all, out-of-season tomatoes that are in the supermarkets now are a product of slave labor. These workers, who are most certainly illegal aliens, have no legal means of fighting back against those who wish to abuse them, and they live in total squalor, somehow duped into working without pay. It's no wonder, with the poor sanitary habits and lack of running water, that fruits and vegetables are becoming infected with hepatitis and salmonella at an alarming rate. I almost never buy supermarket tomatoes anyway (because they taste bad), and am fortunate enough to be able to buy tomatoes year round at our farmers market. But this news gives me all the more reason to buy my tomatoes in season (or at the FM).

That being said, I'm going to torture you a bit with an easy recipe for my very favorite summer lunch (or dinner)-the BLT sandwich. The crunch and saltiness of the applewood smoked bacon, the juicy acidity of the tomato, and the creaminess of the mayonnaise sends me right over the moon. Please don't try this at home, unless it is the height of summer and you have in your possession some local, slavery-free, pesticide-free tomatoes...or you live in southern California and managed to pick up a ripe handful at your farmers' market.

BLT Sandwich

Toast 2 slices of your favorite bread (I like sourdough). Mix 2 T mayonnaise with 1/2 T pesto (you have some in your freezer, right?) and spread thickly on both slices of bread. Layer some baby lettuce, sliced and salted tomatoes, and 2 (at least) slices of crispy bacon (I cook mine in the microwave) onto one slice of bread. Top with remaining slice of bread. Bite and moan....repeat.

B.A.M. Pizza

It's Friday, and I am really trying to stick with our "Pizza Friday" tradition. One of my favorite pizzas to both make and eat is like the B.L.T. pizza from California Pizza Kitchen. But since tomatoes are hard to come by these days, I have come up with a version that is perfect for fall using bacon (really pancetta), arugula, and mushrooms. It was a really delicious way to end the week.

B.A.M. Pizza

1 pound of crimini mushrooms, sliced

4 oz pancetta, diced (I buy a pre-diced package from Trader Joe's)

2 cloves garlic, minced

olive oil

2 large handfuls of baby arugula, rinsed very well

2 handfuls mozzarella cheese

1 handful Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 500° for 1 hour.

Brown pancetta over medium heat until almost crisp. Drain onto paper towels and saute mushrooms in remaining fat. Salt and pepper mushrooms to taste and saute until moisture is evaporated.

Onto prepared and stretched crust (click here for recipe), drizzle olive oil liberally. Sprinkle garlic and mozzarella cheese. Spoon over pancetta and mushrooms and place 2 large handfuls of baby arugula over that. Drizzle more olive oil on arugula leaves and sprinkle on Parmesan cheese. Slide onto heated pizza stone and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crust is a crisp as you like. Remove from oven and drizzle on more olive oil.