Sun Dried Tomato Pesto / Pesto med Soltorkade Tomater

Just a while back, I posted my classic pesto recipe. During these hot summer days, our herb garden is just blooming, and I try to use as much as I can of our herbs when cooking. The other day I decided to make another twist on Pesto. A pesto with sun dried tomatoes. It’s the classic red pesto you can buy in the store, but once again, it tastes so much better if you make it yourself. This pesto has a lot of flavor and is quite strong. If you want a milder pesto, remove one of the garlic cloves! Enjoy.

Recipe / Recept

2 small pots of fresh basil / 2 krukor basilika

2 small pots of parsley / 2 krukor persilja 

2 cloves of garlic / 3 vitlöksklyftor

5 sun dried tomatoes / 5 soltorkade tomater

about 0.4 cups of roasted pine nuts / ca 1 dl rostade pinjenötter

about 0.5 cups of parmesan cheese / ca 1.2 dl parmesanost 

Olive oil / olivolja 

1. Start by roasting the pine nuts. Heat a pan and put the nuts in the pan. Stir until golden. / Börja med att rosta pinjenötterna. Hetta upp en panna och lägg i nötterna. Rör om till och med att nötterna blivit gyllene.

2. Cut off all the fresh leaves of herbs from the plants. / Klipp av all färska kryddblad från plantorna.

3. Peel the garlic. Less garlic makes it milder. / Skala vitlöken. Mindre vitlök ger en mildare pesto.

4. Put the herbs, garlic, nuts and cheese in a food processer. / Lägg kryddorna, nötterna, vitlöken och osten i en mixer.

5. Pour in a little olive oil at first, about 2 tbsp. / Häll i lite olja först, ca 2 msk.

6. Start mixing. / Börja mixa.

7. Pour in more olive oil as you go, until you reach your desired texture. / Häll i mer olivolja eftersom, tills du når den konsistens du vill ha.

8. Done! / Klart!

Pasta Pesto with Scallops – Pesto Pasta med Pilgrimsmusslor

There’s no summer in Sweden yet, it’s July 2nd and the rain is still poring down. Although, they are promising better weather and especially more summery weather during the weekend. The only good thing about the weather being more like a rainy october day is that there’s lots of time for cooking. This dish is perfect when having guests over, since it’s both hearty, delicious and easy. You can prepare the pesto in advance, and the meal will be done in the same amount of time as the pasta is cooking.

But, let’s talk about scallops for a while. Scallops are sooo delicious, but it’s important to not over cook them. A food like scallops is nothing you eat everyday, and therefore it’s worth being a little more attentive in order to cook them in the right way. Well, the “right” way will probably vary from person to person. My way of cooking them is by seasoning with salt and pepper and then quickly turn them in a pan on high heat with butter in. Only about 1 minute on each side, and then let them rest. Mmm….

Recipe / Recept

12 ounzes of pasta / 500 g pasta

Pesto / Pest0

Avocado / Avokado

Tomatoes / Tomater

Pine nuts / Pinjenötter

Parmesan cheese / Parmesan ost

Scallops / Pilgrimsmusslor

1. Start by making the pesto. / Börja med att göra peston.

2. Cook the pasta. / Koka pastan.

3. Meanwhile, slice the avocado and tomatoes. / Undertiden, skiva avokado och tomater.

4. Sear the scallops; season and put the stove on high heat. Melt butter in a pan and cook about 1 min on each side. / Stek pilgrimsmusslorna; sätt spisen på hög värme och låt smöret smälta. Krydda pilgrimsmusslorna och stek ca 1 min på varje sida.

5. Mix the pasta with the pesto. / Blanda pastan med peston.

6. Top of with tomatoes, avocado, scallops, pine nuts, avocado and parmesan. / Toppa med tomater, avokado, pilgrimsmusslor, pinjenötter och parmesan.

7. Done! / Klart!

Pesto!

Classic pesto is hard to go wrong with. There’s multiple uses for pesto, if you don’t feel like eating it straight up with pasta. You can use it on sandwiches, pizzas, salads and for antipasto. Fresh pesto feels and tastes soooo much better than the store-bought jar. There are probably a thousand variations on how to make pesto, and this is our traditional recipe.

Recipe / Recept

2 small pots of fresh basil / 2 krukor basilika

2 small pots of parsley / 2 krukor persilja 

3 cloves of garlic / 3 vitlöksklyftor

about 0.4 cups of roasted pine nuts / ca 1 dl rostade pinjenötter

about 0.5 cups of parmesan cheese / ca 1.2 dl parmesanost 

Olive oil / olivolja 

1. Start by roasting the pine nuts. Heat a pan and put the nuts in the pan. Stir until golden. / Börja med att rosta pinjenötterna. Hetta upp en panna och lägg i nötterna. Rör om till och med att nötterna blivit gyllene.

2. Cut off all the fresh leaves of herbs from the plants. / Klipp av all färska kryddblad från plantorna.

3. Peel the garlic. Less garlic makes it milder. / Skala vitlöken. Mindre vitlök ger en mildare pesto.

4. Put the herbs, garlic, nuts and cheese in a food processer. / Lägg kryddorna, nötterna, vitlöken och osten i en mixer.

5. Pour in a little olive oil at first, about 2 tbsp. / Häll i lite olja först, ca 2 msk.

6. Start mixing. / Börja mixa.

7. Pour in more olive oil as you go, until you reach your desired texture. / Häll i mer olivolja eftersom, tills du når den konsistens du vill ha.

8. Done! / Klart!