A “Mille-Feuille” for 1,000 Followers!

Hi everyone!

Happy Saturday, and happy milestone to me! Today is a big day for Stovetop Story, as I’m celebrating over a 1,000 followers! I can’t thank you all enough and I’m so proud of what this tiny project has turned into. Though it’s not much on the scale of the whole internet, I thought only my family would read my blog when I started out… So I’m super happy to share all of my recipes with as many of you lovely visitors as possible! And since it’s a great step forward, I decided to celebrate with a special post and a little treat: a heirloom tomato “mille-feuille”, with a deliciously creamy basil pesto!

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Stuffed Round Zucchini with Pesto Quinoa

 

What do you love the most about seasons? Is it the changing weather, temperature, fashion, or the color of the leaves in the trees? For me, it’s the flavorful seasonal produce that come with each one of them. Throughout the Spring season specifically, many of my favorite fruits and vegetables become perfectly ripe. That’s when I like to spend some time at the grocery store, and get lost in the fresh produce aisle. As I was walking there the other day actually, I saw a cart filled with round zucchini and couldn’t resist. They looked so good, and round, and green, and perfect. Don’t you agree?

Carrot Noodles with Kale-Cashew Pesto

I love salads! In fact I love them so much that it’s all I ever want to eat when the weather gets warmer. I just like that it’s cold, fresh, and healthy. But I’m always on the lookout for other options too, like cold soups or sandwiches to avoid getting bored. I recently got into vegetable noodles for example; one of the best things that entered my culinary world this past year actually.

Warm Caprese Pasta with Pesto Rosso

It’s good to be back! Though I had a wonderful Spring Break, it’s time to get back to work, and start cooking again. It’s been a while since I last posted a (pasta) recipe, and I feel like it’s necessary for me to do so, since I eat so much of it! It’s also always good to have an extra recipe to switch things up a bit. So get ready, because this isn’t your typical Caprese salad… For starters, I should admit that I don’t really like pasta salads. Pasta is just so much better when it’s warm, that I never even think of eating it cold. Additionally, the pasta is too often mushy, or completely drowned in sauce. So this week, I decided I’d give a classic, the Caprese Pasta Salad, a little twist and make my delicious *warm* version of it. The star of this recipe is obviously the pesto rosso, or red pesto, which is basically pesto with a mix of fresh and sundried tomatoes. It adds a wonderful touch to the dish and make the flavors and textures of the fresh mozzarella and cherry tomatoes stand out in contrast. It’s also incredibly easy to make, with ingredients that you probably already have in your fridge or pantry! This recipe makes about two servings of pesto so you can keep the rest in the fridge and add it to scrambled eggs, or a bowl of quinoa the next day. Ti amo, Pesto Rosso… Bon appétit!

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Prep time: 15 minutes

Ingredients for the Pesto Rosso: Serves 2

• 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes
• 1/6 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 garlic clove
• 6 fresh basil leaves
• 1/8 cup chopped blanched almonds
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• 1/2-1 tbsp grated romano cheese
• balsamic vinegar
• salt, pepper

Ingredients for the Caprese Pasta:

• 80g medium shells pasta
• 1/2 pesto rosso preparation
• a handful of cherry tomatoes (chopped)
• 1/4 cup fresh mozzarella cheese (diced)
• chopped fresh basil (optional)

Directions:

1. Bring salted water to a boil in a large pot, and cook the pasta for the time written on the packaging (mine takes about 9 minutes).
2. Meanwhile, make the pesto rosso. In a food processor, add the sundried tomatoes, garlic, basil, and almonds. Pulse until everything is roughly chopped, and chunky. Next, add the cherry tomatoes, and a light splash of balsamic vinegar. Pulse again, until well combined. Then, add the olive oil with the cheese and keep pulsing. Finally, add 2 tablespoons of the pasta water and pulse until the sauce is creamy and homogeneous. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Drain the pasta and put it back in the pot, add the diced fresh mozzarella and cherry tomatoes, and toss with the pesto rosso. Top with parmesan cheese and chopped fresh basil. Mamma mia how delicious it is!

Homemade Peasto Linguine

It’s peasto time! In case the title wasn’t explicit enough, this is a recipe for a homemade pesto made with sweet peas. I’d been thinking about it and lurking at my huge bag of frozen peas for a little while before I actually decided to give it a shot. Since I had a little extra time this week end, I finally got to try my hands at it and tweak a recipe to make it just the way I like it. Let me tell you up front that I’m now obsessed with it. So obsessed actually, that I tend to just eat most of it out of the bowl while the pasta cooks. I just spread it on toasted bread instead. And oh how good it tastes… Once the pasta is done though, I still toss it with what’s left of the sauce. It’s absolutely delicious once topped with fresh grated parmesan! This peasto is a little sweeter than your typical basil pesto and definitely makes for a refreshing change! Bon appétit!

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Prep time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 80g linguine pasta
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1/3 small garlic clove (minced or crushed)
• 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• a spoonful of sliced almonds
• 1/4-1/3 cup pasta water
• salt, pepper

Directions:

1. Bring salted water to a boil in a large pot, and cook the pasta for the time written on the packaging (mine takes about 10 minutes).
2. Meanwhile, in a microwave-safe bowl, cover the frozen peas with water and cook for about 1:30 minutes. Drain, reserve about a spoonful, and place the rest in a food processor.
3. To make the “peasto”, add the garlic, the almonds, the olive oil, the parmesan and some cooking water from the pasta to the food processor. Mix until the sauce is smooth and homogenous. If it’s too thick, add some more pasta water until you reach a better texture.
4. Drain the pasta and put it back in the pot, toss with the peasto, adjust the seasoning, and top with extra parmesan cheese and the spoonful of reserved cooked peas.

TIP: you can substitute the almonds for pine nuts if you have some on hand. Additionally you can add a bunch of fresh herbs while mixing the pesto. Basil or mint are my favorites for this dish!