Recipe: Uses for Pesto

PESTO IDEAS - USES FOR PESTO

rec.food.cooking/Sara/2001
Stuff it in a chicken breast with some spinach and feta cheese.

rec.food.cooking/bullgator (Wolf)/2001
Mix the pesto with garlic (lots of garlic). Add a good helping of fresh rosemary. Take a whole roasting chicken and use your finger to separate as much of the skin from the meat as you can (take your time and you can get almost the whole bird). Stuff the mixture evenly into the gap. You can also add some lemon juice to mix for additional zest.

rec.food.cooking/Adrienne (dajazlvr)/2001
I sometimes make a pork loin roast with pesto and mushrooms. Just season your roast, slit horizontally, mix the pesto with minced garlic, mushrooms, and seasoned breadcrumbs (optional). Next, stuff the roast with the pesto mixture, seal, and roast at 350 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours.

rec.food.cooking/Nancree/2001
Stir pesto into home-made vegetable soup--it's amazing what it does--kind of
raises it to the ninth power.

rec.food.cooking/Paul M. Cook/2001
I like to saut some plump scallops in butter then toss them gently with the pesto and some cream. Terribly delicious and lo-carb too.

rec.food.cooking/Jack Schidt/2001
Add it to your next omelet.

rec.food.cooking/Nancree/2001
Put it on a Boboli (a pre-baked pizza-type crust, found hanging in plastic bags at your supermarket) Spread Pesto on a Boboli, add chopped tomatoes and goat cheese. Heat and eat

rec.food.cooking/Elisabeth Bouynot/2001
Add vinegar, olive oil and pepper, and you'll have a wonderful vinaigrette dressing for your salads.

rec.food.cooking/cristeve/1999
My husband makes a pizza with a pesto and soft goat cheese base. He mixes them and spreads them on the crust, then goes grilled chicken, red peppers, artichoke hearts and then it is topped with gorgonzola and provolone. Very good!


rec.food.cooking/Peter Lucas/2003
Get some medium sized field mushrooms, spread some of the pesto on the underside (the brown side), top with whatever you want but finish with cheese and place in an oven, or under a slow grill till cooked.

rec.food.cooking/Jack Schidt/2003
- Mix a little in with your chicken salad
- Spread a thin layer on good bread and add a slice of cheese and tomato.
- It's good with salmon and it's good with shrimp too.
- Pesto Roasted Potatoes
- A small dollop on a rare steak is good.

rec.food.cooking/Ribbitt/2003
Bruschetta! Toasted rounds of French bread, a smear of pesto, topped with
whatever suits your taste buds.

rec.food.cooking/Chris Neidecker/2003
Try tucking a dollop underneath the skin of a half chicken breast with
bone and bake.

rec.food.cooking/Karen O'Mara/2003
- In summer, we like to eat leftover roast chicken on crusty bread with pesto, fresh mozzarella, and fresh tomatoes. Good without the chicken, too.
- Another slant on that is chicken pesto pizza: slather pizza crust with pesto, top with tidbits of cooked chicken, chopped Roma tomato, and bake.
- Mix some into mayo for an awesome sandwich spread. Great for waking up a turkey sandwich or adding another dimension to an Italian cold cut sandwich.
- We went to a dinner party the other day where the appetizer was a bruschetta where a slice of Roma tomato had been placed on the bread before baking, and was then topped with a dollop of pesto. It was good -- I've never had it with warm tomato before. And I have no idea where they got such good tomatoes (red and yellow) this time of year.

rec.food.cooking/Frogleg/2003
- Add a tablespoonful to vinaigrette or mayonnaise to dress salads.
- Use in almost any situation where you would add a pat of butter on top of something hot -- meat, vegetable, bread.

rec.food.cooking/Kalanamak/2003
Brush it on roasted or boiled corn on the cob in lieu of butter :)

rec.food.cooking/Jill Mcquown/2003
When you make pizza, rub it on the dough just before you pile on other ingredients. Very tasty.


rec.food.cooking/Charles Quinn/2003
- On rice.
- As a topping on some cheap fish.
- Mix with some avocado as a dip.

rec.food.cooking/Jeanne McKenna/2000
Halve a mini-croissant, lightly spread pesto on each side, add thinly sliced mozzarella and a piece of roasted red pepper. Reassemble, cut in half and stick one of those toothpicks with the "feeties" in each side. Makes a great appetizer.

rec.food.cooking/Judith Moore/2000
I make a killer pasta salad with pasta(!), diced celery, strips of roasted and peeled bell pepper, and pesto as dressing with a little extra oil.

rec.food.cooking/sewingbythecea/2000
- I use it on focaccia, to re-place the red sauce. Just smear it on the unbaked dough, add chicken chunks which have been rolled in the pesto, along with red, yellow, orange and green bell pepper rounds, some portabello mushroom chunks, slices of purple onion, maybe some sliced olives. Oh, and I put the mozzarella cheese on the pizza before adding the veggies. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and bake. Makes a beautiful display.
- Pesto is delicious on baked chicken.
- I buy pesto bagels, and sun-dried tomato bagels, and smear them with the pesto, top with a slice of ripe, red tomato and a wedge of ether mozzarella or Monterey jack cheese, and run it under the broiler, for a quick lunch.

rec.food.cooking/Gary O./2000
- Add sun dried tomatoes. I use the kind stored in oil. Chop them up and stir in to the pesto for a different pesto. Use on pasta or chicken, etc.
- Use regular pesto on pork roast. You can add later or "baste" during the last 7 minutes of cooking time.

rec.food.cooking/TJ/2000
When I make pizza from scratch, instead of smothering the top of the rolled out/flung dough with olive oil, I paint it with pesto. Doesn't have to be a lot. No one can guess what it is, but when the weather gets cold, my friends start requesting my weekend pizza parties.

rec.food.cooking/Gargoylle/2000
In one of my midnight cooking binges, I sauteed onions, red bell pepper, mushroom slices, black olives and a few strips of bacon. I didn't use any oil, just the bacon fat. I cooked a hamburger and smothered it in pesto, topped it with the stuff I had sauteed and melted mozzarella cheese on it under the broiler. I tossed it on a toasted bun and I was in pesto heaven. It was a good way to clean out the fridge!

rec.food.cooking/Paige Oliver/2000
I also like it mixed with a little mayonaise and used on sandwiches and
burgers.

rec.food.cooking/Andrew Rogers/1993
Put a bunch of tomato slices (about 1/2-inch thick) in a pan, cover each slice with basil leaves, and top that with a slab of mozzarella (fresh if you can get it). Then drizzle some olive oil and balsamic vinegar over everything, followed by a sprinkling of coarse salt and freshly-ground pepper. Let it all sit at room temperature for an hour or so, and serve it on Italian bread (with more bread to mop up the juice/oil/vinegar).


rec.food.cooking/Michael J. Edelman/1993
- Spread it on fish and bake or broil
- Pound out chicken fillets, spread with pesto, roll up, secure with toothpick and bake.
- Mix with ground beef and make hamburgers on the grill. Outstanding! A big hit at my annual barbecue. (Actually I make turkey burgers)
- Add a teaspoon to vegetable soups.
- Mix with cream cheese, spread on toast.

rec.food.cooking/Robert H. Tosh/1993
- Mix pesto with cooked rice, cooked (maybe leftover) broccoli nicely chopped, shredded soft cheese(like mozzarella or Monterey Jack)---top with grated parmesan or Romano, bake en casserole, and you have yummy "green rice"!
- For you Southerners out there: try adding a dollop of pesto to your favorite cheese grits recipe.
- A sure hit on St. Paddy's Day! (Serve with corned beef, cabbage, herbed biscuits, and cress salad.)

rec.food.cooking/Susanne Havelson/1993
Pesto is great on pizza, but its flavor doesn't hold up well under the intense heat required for pizza. What we do is make the pizza then spread the pesto on top just as it comes out of the oven. YUM!

rec.food.cooking/Pierette_Maniago_VanRyzin/1993
- Before you roast a whole chicken, rub the inside of the cavity with pesto. Loosen the skin from the meat by running your hands just under the skin (loosen from legs and thighs too), and spread pesto just under the skin of the bird. Roast as usual.
- Had this at a cafe in Boulder Colorado. Lightly toast slices of Italian bread. Spread with pesto - a bit thicker layer than you would butter the bread, but don't spread on too much (you know, just right). Top with thinly sliced sun dried tomatoes and crumbled feta cheese. All ingredients should be at room temp except the warm, toasted bread. Great appetizer.

rec.food.cooking/Steve Hammond/1993
Take some boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Pound them flat. Place skin side down and spread pesto on it. Roll up like a jelly roll and tie with some kitchen twine. Bake or grill them. Serve with steamed fresh garden beans sautee'd with slivered almonds and a wild rice salad. Add a chardonnay and invite me over!

rec.food.cooking/Michael S. Schechter/1993
Spread it on a bagel, top with shredded scallions and carrots.

rec.food.cooking/Colin Crist/1993
Occasionally, I get some small (inch to an inch and a half in diameter) mozzarella, preferably the real thing made with buffalo milk, and scoop out a bit of the top and poach *very* quickly in boiling water (not too vigorous). Take the warmed cheese and place some pesto in the hole and serve with a light salad. Makes a great starter!

rec.food.cooking/David Gossett/1993
Another really good thing to do with Pesto, for the cholesterol/fat unconscious (or the rest of us once in a blue moon), is to make an omelet with Pesto and Brie as the filling- It's absolutely wonderful, especially if you have made a relatively low-oil pesto.

rec.food.cooking/Jeff Goldsmith/1993
- Take a large loaf of Italian bread and cut it in half lengthwise. Spread each half with pesto. Add sliced fresh Roma tomatoes and either provolone or fresh mozzarella cheese (sliced.) Alternatively, slice the bread into rounds and do the same; it becomes a nice snack or picnic food. Looks better on the long loaf, though.
- Take cold spaghetti and toss with pesto. Makes a good summer lunch out of leftovers.
- Or use it as dipping sauce for beef fondue.

rec.food.cooking/Lyn Swan/1993
A nice appetizer is to take fresh mushroom caps, sprinkle some cheese on them (I prefer shredded mozzarella) and top with a dab of pesto. Microwave for about a minute till the cheese melts a bit. YUM!

rec.food.cooking/Joanne Garlow/1993
I add extra vinegar to pesto and make a great salad dressing. I usually add extra nuts (I use walnuts instead of pine nuts cause I'm cheap :-) and extra cheese because I think that makes it a better dressing, but that's up to you

rec.food.cooking/David Ross/1997
Spread little on each side of a steak before barbequing instead of using barbeque sauce.

rec.food.cooking/Mistress Krista/2001
One of my own creations is Martian Pasta Sauce. Throw pesto into the blender with cooked, drained spinach (might need to add a little more olive oil to make it blend well). It turns a bright green but tastes really good.

rec.food.cooking/Romayne Naylor/2001
I make a pesto salad dressing by adding a tablespoon or two to my homemade red wine vinegar and olive oil dressing. It's great for tossed salads or just sliced tomatoes and/or cucumbers, especially when everything is fresh from the garden.

rec.food.cooking/Petra from Hamburg, Germany/1998
Potato salad 'n Pesto - Boil salad potatoes, peel, slice, mix potato slices and chopped sauteed onion. Add 2 or 3 chopped tomatoes, then mix olive oil, some vinegar, salt, pepper and pesto to form a nice dressing and pour over potato salad. Should marinate for an hour or so.

rec.food.cooking/jane a/1999
- Pesto is wicked mixed with mayonnaise as a dressing for pasta salad.
- It can be spread thickly on slices of baguette and topped with goat cheese then warmed in the oven.
- A great sandwich spread or pizza sauce.

rec.food.cooking/Cheryl Y Frederick/1999
Spread a bit on French loaf, or sourdough baguette before toasting in the oven. lovely with a salad! (or on it's own)

rec.food.cooking/Scott Taylor/1999
Stir a spoonful or two into your next batch of mashed potatoes--very nice.

rec.food.cooking/Stanley Horwitz/1999
Pesto makes a great topping for a broiled steak.

rec.food.cooking/Jenni/1999
Spread it on sandwiches. Wonderful with tomato and mozzarella, or salami and arugula, or roasted vegetables (zucchini, eggplant, pepper, pumpkin). Mmm-mmmm.

rec.food.cooking/Hal Laurent/1994
Toast some good bread. Spread pesto on the bread. Put sliced tomato on top, sprinkle on freshly grated parmesan cheese. Stick it in the toaster oven until the cheese melts a bit. Yum!

rec.food.cooking/sherri eastman/1994
We make pesto all summer (I only use pine nuts in making my pesto also, rarely use walnuts).
- Use a dollop of it over thin pasta (angel hair, etc) with cut up fresh vegetables (i.e. tomatoes, fresh zucchini, little bit of onion, garlic, lots of basil, etc)
- Use a dollop over meaty spaghetti sauces.
- Put a dollop in vegetable soups (in the serving dish)
- When I make Eggplant Parmesan, I use a dollop of pesto on top of the sauce on each piece of eggplant then layer with another eggplant and sauce, pesto, etc).
- Spread it thinly on pizza before adding fresh garden vegetables and baking.
- Use it in cold pasta salads, and I always use extra fresh pine nuts in the salad.
- Love to go home from work and have a piece of freshly baked bread spread with pesto (don't dare do that very often). Brother bakes fresh sourdough a couple of times a week...You can probably find lots of other uses.

rec.food.cooking/Paul Wallich/1994
One of the things I do with the cheese-free version (I generally freeze that or just chopped basil in olive oil) is to put it in rice: just drop the frozen block in when the water starts boiling or so (adjust cooking time and temp accordingly). It makes a wonderfully warming midwinter dish.

rec.food.cooking/Kurt Foster/1994
I put it on tomato slices, on bread or toast, and use it as a condiment.

rec.food.cooking/Felecia W. Mcduffie/1994
Last night we mixed a dollop of it with fresh, steamed zucchini and served it as a side dish with grilled fish and risotto. Yum!

rec.food.cooking/Paul Kasley/1994
1. Put on boiled potato chunks as a side dish
2. Put on pasta as a side dish
3. Make a salad with pasta, tomato chunks, olive oil, garlic, and pignoli
4. Mix with ricotta and use it as a stuffing for chicken (under the skin, not in the cavity)
5. Spread on a good crusty slice of bread, just like butter

BTW, we freeze our pesto in 1 cup quantities in small plastic freezer bags.
Ice cube size is too small. The block of pesto pops right out of the bag and
the bags stack flat in the freezer.

rec.food.cooking/Ted Taylor/1994
I bought some boneless/skinless chicken breasts in a hurry, and a package of Contadina "fresh" pesto, as one sees in the cooler next to the "fresh" Contadina pastas in the cooler. It's okay stuff, not great but not bad for factory-manufactured.

I flattened and hammered the chicken breasts fairly well, and placed on each one a heavy helping of chevre (GOOD chevre) and pesto. (I left the oily part of the pesto out, for now, using only the solid part.) I folded/wrapped each breast, using toothpicks to fasten semi-securely. I topped each one with more of the pesto, and drizzled the oil (you didn't think I'd let that go to waste when I could let it go to waist, did you?) on top, too. HOT oven, about 450 to start, reducing that after the chicken was in and I could smell the pesto getting too hot. The temperature stayed around 400 for about 20 more minutes.

Entirely yummy, very fast, unfortunately not at all inexpensive because of the purchased-boneless chicken and the purchased-prepared pesto. But it could be a fairly cheap dish, if I'd had the extra time.

Leftover pesto from that container went onto fine spaghetti the next day and was much appreciated.

rec.food.cooking/C. Antonio Romero/1994
What I do is something I picked up in bon Appetit Magazine in fall 1992 sometime. A roast whole chicken stuffed under the skin with pesto is a wonderful thing. Use a roasting chicken (7-pounder) and 8oz. pesto. Save 1 tbsp. pesto, pack the rest under the skin of the bird working it over the breast and around the legs. Roast until done. Deglaze the pan with a little dry sherry or white wine, bring the liquid to 1 cup volume, thicken with a little flour, add cream and then the reserved pesto and white pepper. You need the cheesy kind of pesto for this to work right, really.

rec.food.cooking/Brooks Seymore/1994
One of my favorite taverns/pubs makes a wonderful artichoke heart and pesto sandwich. Not sure what goes in it or in what quantities but it is *really* good. The only thing, other than pesto and artichoke hearts, which can remember going in it are tomato slices.

rec.food.cooking/CathrynY/1994
I like to freeze Pesto in ice cube trays and drop them into soups for
extra pizaazz!

rec.food.cooking/Seanagh OMeara/1994
My favourite use of pesto is on fresh yellow wax beans with a squirt of lemon juice and freshly ground black pepper.

I have not yet tried it, but I imagine that if one were to scoop out the inside of left-over baked potato (leaving the skin intact) and mixed it with pesto sour cream and again some lemon juice, then returned it to the skin, and dusted the top lightly with fine, dried bread crumbs, then broiled it lightly, that would be ok too.

rec.food.cooking/Jean P Nance/1994
With pesto you can make a fast and very tasty salad dressing. Oil and lemon juice, any proportion you like. I use about 1 part oil to 2 or 3 parts lemon juice, to make a dressing with less fat. Also, more fat comes from the pesto. Add salt, add garlic if there is none in your pesto. Add some pesto, maybe a tablespoon to a pint. Stir very vigorously or blend in a blender. Add pesto to any tomato sauce, again, a tablespoon full to maybe a pint of sauce. Great!

rec.food.cooking/Henry Troup/1994
Pesto and mustard on a cheese sandwich. For breakfast. Really!