Fettuccine with Spinach Pesto

So I said I was going to blog about something fun and exciting for Monday night.  Yeah well I completely forgot about blogging-- sorry! :)

I did cook tonight though.  This is one of my favorite pasta dishes.  Everyone in my family loves it, plus it sneaks spinach into Carter.  Eli will eat almost anything, Carter is a little pickier, so this is perfect for him.

As always, here's the link to the original recipe and here's how I make it.

The goods

Fettuccine with Spinach Pesto
Prep time 25 mins
Total time 25 mins
Serves 4

1 Package fettuccine

Coarse salt and ground pepper

1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

2 tablespoons pine nuts, plus more for serving

2-3 garlic cloves

1 teaspoon grated zest plus 2 tablespoons juice from 1 lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup cold water

1. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water according to package instructions. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water, drain pasta, and return to pot.

2. While pasta is cooking, place spinach, Parmesan, nuts, garlic, and lemon zest and juice in a food processor. Process until a paste forms. With motor running, add oil and cold water; process until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Add to pasta; toss, adding reserved pasta water a little at a time until sauce is thinned slightly and coats fettuccine (you may not need all the water). Serve, sprinkled with additional Parmesan and nuts.

Steps of making the pesto:

All aboard!

Pre oil and water

Ready to mingle with the pasta

I always serve this with chicken breasts.  My method for chicken is simple. 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a heavy oven safe pan over medium high heat.  Sprinkle garlic salt on one side of the chicken breasts.  Once the butter is melted place the chicken in the pan, garlic salt side down.  Sprinkle the other side of the chicken with garlic salt.  Cook chicken for about 3-4 minutes until browned, flip the chicken and cook again for 3-4 minutes.  Place the pan (with the chicken in it) in the oven to finish cooking, approximately 15-20 minutes, or until the internal temperature is 165-170 degrees.

YUM!

I talk about garlic salt a lot so I thought I'd show you the kind I use.  Here it is:

This is the only garlic salt I use.  Why? Because when Jon and I were first dating it's what he had in his cupboard.  I liked it so much I adopted it as my own.  Jon thinks it's pretty funny how loyal I am to this particular garlic salt.  He thinks it's the parsley that makes me feel fancy.  I think it tastes good.

On the menu for tomorrow is frittata, but we'll see what happens.  Frittata has been on the menu since last week, things just keep getting in the way.  Our crazy week last week and, I think the biggest motivator, it just hasn't sounded good to me.  Jon asked for it.  I know I'll love it when I eat it so I just need to make it already!

Pizza!

Are you ready for my favorite cooking tip?

Make homemade pizza in a cast iron pan. Seriously. I know it sounds crazy, I was skeptic the first time I tried it, but its awesome.

We love making homemade pizza (or home pizza as Carter calls it) but we always had a hard time with the dough. The dough would either stick to the cooking surface (no matter how many different surfaces or anti-sticking tricks we tired) or the dough would be raw and the top of the pizza would be burnt. But not when cooked in a cast iron. Our pizzas, top to bottom, turn out great every time now.

This isn't the best trick if you're trying to make lots of pizzas, but for one or two it works great. We're lucky enough to have two cast iron pans so we can make a grown up (see recipe below) pizza and a kid (pineapple and bacon, Carter's favorite) pizza at the same time.

I learned this trick from this recipe. I love this pizza, it hits the spot every time I make it. Plus it is super easy to make. One tip, make sure you slice the mushrooms very thin, that way when they cook you don't end up with extra moisture from the mushrooms on top of the pizza. Oh and I double the amount of goat cheese. I have recently learned to like goat cheese, but now that I have, I'm slightly addicted to it's wonderful tanginess.

Leek, Mushroom & Pesto Pizza

adapted from Woman's Day

4 oz mushrooms, very thinly sliced
1 small leek (white and light green parts only), halved crosswise and lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 Tbsp olive oil
Kosher salt and pepper
1 lb pizza dough
2 Tbsp pesto
4 oz fresh goat cheese, crumbled (about 1/2 cup)

Recipe Preparation
1. Heat oven to 425°F. In a large bowl, toss the mushrooms, leek, oil, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper.

2. Shape the pizza dough into a 12-in. round and place in the bottom and slightly up the sides of a large (10- to 12-in.) cast-iron skillet.

3. Spread the pesto over the dough, leaving a 1/4-in. border. Top with the vegetables and sprinkle with the goat cheese. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.


Before:

After:

Pure heaven.