Sasha's Kitchen: Pan Seared Salmon with Pumpkin Seed Pesto

This new salmon recipe is the perfect recipe for a week night - one I came across that is simple and delicious from my monthly subscription of bon appetit magazine.  You can find the original recipe here on their website.  This recipe is lovely and seasonal with the pumpkin seed pesto, but perfect for those nights when you just don't have the time to cook a complicated meal.  The pesto is delicious, and would be perfect on chicken, steak and vegetables.  But it works nicely with some high quality organic salmon as well!

Pan Seared Salmon with Pumpkin Seed Pesto
2-4 6-8 oz filets of salmon
2 1/4 tsp plus 1/4 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup shelled unsalted pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup firmly packed cilantro
1/2 tsp cracked coriander seeds (I used dried coriander powder)
1/2 garlic clove
1 T lime juice
kosher salt and black pepper
1 lime, cut into wedges.

Heat the 1 1/2 tsp oil in a nonstick pan and saute the pumpkin seeds for about 2 minutes until they are brown and pop.  Transfer to a paper towel.

Pulse in a food processor the pumpkin seeds, coriander, cilantro and garlic.  Add the lime juice and oil and water, pulsing after each addition to emulsify.  Season with salt and pepper and more lime juice if desired, and voila - there's your pesto.  It's that easy!

Heat the remaining 1 tsp of oil.  Season the fish and cook on both sides until just opaque in the center, about 3-4 minutes on each side.  Serve hot.

Sasha's Kitchen: Pan Seared Salmon with Pumpkin Seed Pesto

Sasha's Kitchen: Pasta with Pesto, Feta and Grape Tomatoes

Time for another delicious pasta dish. And some like it hot, some like it cold. This one is good either way. The first time I made this last week, I used store bought bow tie pasta and it was a big hit here at home.  Then, earlier this week, I received a shipment of organic Italian pastas from ShopRite to sample, all from the Lombardy region of Italy. So I tried it out with a one pound bag of ShopRite's radiatore pasta, and it was superb.  The ShopRite pastas are excellent, and it had a lovely, perfect al dente texture. I am such a fan of the radiatore that I can't wait to try out some of the other pastas that ShopRite sent me to sample (free of charge, of course :).

At any rate, this dish combines the pasta with flavors of red onion, pesto, feta cheese and broiled grape tomatoes. It's a delicious combination of flavors, and as I said before, can be served either hot or cold. A Sasha-pasta creation at its finest!

delicious Organic Italian pastas I received to sample from ShopRite

Sasha's Pasta with Pesto, Feta and Grape Tomatoes (serves 6)
1 lb ShopRite radiatore pasta, or bow tie pasta
2 containers grape tomatoes, halved
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 8 oz packages of feta cheese
1 red onion, diced
leaves of 1 bunch of basil
1/4 cup pine nuts
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Prepare the pesto in a food processor by blending the basil leaves with the olive oil and pine nuts (also known as pignolia nuts - I love that word!). Set aside. Broil the tomatoes for about 20 minutes at 450. Saute the red onion in olive oil for several minutes, then add the garlic, and saute until the onion is translucent. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente, and rinse. Combine the pesto, onion/garlic, pasta and crumbled feta cheese. Serve hot or allow to chill. Another great thing about this dish is that it results in plenty of leftovers for the next night, which makes it perfect for busy weekday cooking - double returns!

Sasha's Kitchen: Pasta with Pesto, Feta and Grape Tomatoes

Sasha's Kitchen: Sweet Pea Pesto

Pesto time - one of my favorite pasta dishes, and each time I make a pesto, I like to try something a little bit different. A few months ago, last time I made a pesto dish, I was visiting my parents in Rochester and we made a spicy pesto with caramelized U12 scallops, which was delicious. Yesterday, I received my most recent shipment of food from ShopRite as part of the Potluck Blog Panel. Each of the shipments have a theme, and the theme this month was the 40th anniversary of the ShopRite Can-Can Sale which was a winter sale on canned food that started in the 1970s after the holidays where customers would stock up on canned food for the winter.

This is the perfect time of year for some quality canned products in the dead of winter in the northeast (hello, I think blizzard number two is coming this weekend) since fresh fruits and vegetables are scarce this time of year. I was planning on making a simple fettuccine pesto for dinner, but decided to jazz it up with the delicious can of sweet peas that I found in the box. I had never head peas in my pesto before, but it was a perfect combination and a wholesome and delicious dish. I made my pesto from scratch. I like to experiment with different pestos, including a hazelnut pesto, but this time I did a traditional basil pesto. If you wish, you could add caramelized scallops to this dish, but I kept it vegetarian this time, and mixed in some goat cheese, which adds a light and creamy texture to the pesto and is much healthier than heavy cream.

Sasha's Sweet Pea Pesto
Bunch of fresh basil, stems removed
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
4 oz fresh vermont goat cheese, crumbled
fresh pasta (I bought fresh fettuccine rather than the boxed kind for this recipe)
salt and pepper to taste
1 can of ShopRite little gem sweet peas

First prepare the pesto in a food processor by pureeing the olive oil with the basil and pine nuts until smooth. Set aside and cook the pasta and warm up the sweet peas in a pot. Mix in the sweet peas and goat cheese with the pasta, and mix the pesto to coat. That's it - this is a nice and easy dish which is perfect for wintertime and is simple, easy and heathy, too!

Sasha's Kitchen: Sweet Pea Pesto

Sasha's Kitchen: Salmon, Asparagus & Basil Pesto Sushi Rolls

I love making homemade sushi rolls.  The first time my husband, Brad, and I made our own sushi, it turned out so well that he proposed to me after the meal.  Thus, homemade sushi is near and dear to our hearts.  I can't help but remember that wonderful night every time Brad and I prepare sushi.  Last night,  I tried a couple of offbeat rolls that vary from the typical rolls you might find in sushi restaurants.  The salmon, asparagus and homemade basil pesto rolls was especially savory and delicious.  It was fairly easy to make and was one of our favorite new rolls.  We plan to do another night of sushi tonight, using some different fish and combinations, so stay tuned for another sushi post in the next day or two.


Sasha's Salmon, Avocado & Pesto Sushi Rolls
6 oz sushi grade salmon (I always get a bit extra, as this is enough for 4 people, for about 8 rolls); ask for the salmon to be skinned
1 cup fresh basil
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 T grated Parmesan cheese
several stalks of asparagus
1 1/2 cups of sushi rice  (this will be enough to make 4-5 sushi rolls)
3 T seasoned rice vinegar
sushi nori (seaweed)

First, prepare the rice.  You will need to spend about 15 minutes rinsing and re-rinsing the sushi rice until the water runs clean before using it.  This is important to allow the rice to have the right color and flavor so you should not skip this step.  Then, add the one and a half cups of rice to 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Simmer, covered, the same way you would cook regular rice.  Once the rice is done, mix in the seasoned rice vinegar and allow the rice to cool.

Prepare the pesto by combining the basil, pine nuts, olive oil and cheese in a food processor.  You can also add some red pepper flakes if you want some heat.

To prepare the sushi rolls, place the sushi nori on your sushi rolling mat.  Here are some generic instructions on how to roll the sushi.  Press the rice into the nori, leaving the top inch and a half without rice.  Line up the pesto, salmon (cut into a long strip) and a stalk of asparagus lengthwise on the side of the rice/nori closest to you and roll away from you.  You can dip your fingers in some water and use the water to seal the roll.  Cut into six or seven pieces and enjoy with some wasabi, ginger and soy sauce.

For dessert, try my green tea ice cream.  Click here to read about my cupcakes frosted to look like sushi.

Sasha's Kitchen: Salmon, Asparagus & Basil Pesto Sushi Rolls

Sasha's Kitchen: Rigatoni Pesto With Chicken Sausage and Mixed Vegetables

My green pasta vegetable medley and tomato arugula angel hair pasta were such successes recently, that this week, I decided to do another inventive pasta dish using all the vegetables in the house, plus some high quality chicken sausage.  I used the basil that I had picked up at the grocery store the other day to prepare a basic pesto sauce to go along with my pasta creation.

I never liked pesto much when I was younger - I always preferred a tomato-based pasta sauce.  But, pesto has really grown on me.  I make pasta dishes with two types of pestos these days:  a spicy hazelnut pesto and a basic pesto.  Tonight's dish used a basic pesto which is comprised of the following ingrediants: olive oil, basil and pine nuts (also known as pignolia nuts), plus a bit of garlic.  I certainly will share the hazelnut pesto recipe in a future post.

Here are all the ingredients you will need for this recipe:

1 roll of high quality homemade chicken sausage (I got mine at M&S Prime Meats, a great local store, where they make it fresh on a regular basis), cut into small pieces
1 box rigatoni or penne
1 head of broccoli
1 onion, diced
1-2 sprigs of rosemary
1/2 cup olive oil, plus extra to saute the vegetables
15 (approximate) heads of artichoke (I couldnt get fresh artichokes, unfortunately, but purchased in jars at a high-end Italian market)
4 cloves of garlic, diced
1/4 cup pine nuts (pignolia nuts)
2 cups of loosely packed basil
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
salt and pepper to taste.

First, prepare the pesto in your cuisinart, by adding 1/2 cup of the olive oil, 2 cloves of diced garlic, and the pine nuts.  Blend fully, until it forms a pesto paste.  Yes, pesto is that easy, and the quality of your pesto is dependent on using a high quality extra virgin olive oil, so choose carefully.  I used Olive Oil from Round Pond Estate, in Napa.

Next, saute the vegetables (onion, artichoke and broccoli) with the rosemary in a tablespoon of olive oil.  While this is going on, saute the chicken sausage in olive oil, and add a tiny bit of red pepper flakes (about a quarter teaspoon) if you want to add some spice to the dish.  This is, of course, optional and I opted not to go with any heat tonight.  Season the vegetables and sausage with salt and pepper.  Boil the water to cook the pasta of your choice - tonight I used rigatoni.  Mix everything together and enjoy.  This is easy to make and doesn't take too long, though it does seem to dirty at least half of the dishes, pots and pans in the kitchen.  The great thing about this dish is that it can serve an entire family, or provide for plenty of leftovers!

pesto
cooking

Sasha's Kitchen: Rigatoni Pesto With Chicken Sausage and Mixed Vegetables