Rucola Pesto.

My first post is about a very simple and scented sauce: Pesto.
With this recipe I'd like to thank Heather for inviting me to her blog and I virtually offer her my personal taste of italian cuisine.

With this mediterranean breeze on the Gourmet DIY Shanghai I hope you will be prepare for summer. Who lives here knows that spring is just so short and after the cold and rainy winter we had this year, summer will be soon at the door,  hot and humid.

What is better than an easy and fresh green thing that can be spread on a piece of bread or a ready to use sauce in the fridge for a pasta or rice?

The name "pesto" is the italian for pestle and it refers to the manual grinder made of stone that was used in the past. Here I've prepared a rucola pesto.

For a jar to store in fridge:

80-100 grams of basil or rucola leaves

50 grams of parmesan cheese

50 grams of pine nuts (I've used pine nuts and pecan)

olive oil (better if extra virgin) around 150 grams 

salt 

1 garlic clove

Wash the rucola leaves (or basil) and let it dry before using it. Put cheese, pine nuts and garlic (if you don't like garlic it can be omitted) in a grinder or food processor. If you don't have a food processor (in shanghai not all have) just use a manual grinder or a pestle. Add the leaves, salt and the olive oil and grind together till the sauce comes like a cream. Store in a glass container cover with more olive oil on top to prevent the pesto to change its vibrant color.

If covered with oil it will last one week in the fridge and of course ... if you don't have a piece of bread to dip in!

Pine nuts are expensive and sometimes difficult to find so any of the following works, just experiment: almonds, nuts, hazelnuts, pecan.

Marinara Sauce

This is an inexpensive sauce to make here in China and it is so much fresher and better than anything you can get from a can. I usually have my darling ayi do the tedious part of cutting up the vegetables,  which means that it is hardly any trouble for me to make.
The recipe makes enough for my family of five to have for at least two, if not three nights for dinner. Usually I freeze at least part of it for a meal another time. I made this last night and we already had a fridge full of leftovers so I froze it all to have on hand the next time I want to make lasagna (And I think I might just have to use your ricotta recipe when I do make lasagna, Lauren!).


Ingredients
2 onions, chopped
8 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 tbsp olive oil
4 lbs (2 kg) tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
2-2 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried basil

In a large stockpot, add oilve oil,

garlic,

and onions.

Saute for five minutes until onions and garlic are tender.

Add tomatoes,

sugar,

salt,

and basil.

Simmer for 30-40 minutes until the sauce has reduced.

Take 1/2 to 2/3 (2-3 cups) of the sauce and process in a blender (if you like a really fine marinara sauce you can blend the whole thing- but I like to leave the sauce a little chunky)

Add the blended portion back into the pot. If the sauce is still a little too thin continue to simmer until the sauce has reduced to the consistency you like.

Serve over pasta or use in a recipe that calls for marinara sauce.