Lemon herb tahini dressing - keto, paleo, Whole30

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There's a Mediterranean make-your-own-bowl place near my office that makes this incredibly good lemon herb tahini salad dressing I can't get enough of. Here's my homemade version. It's a lot greener than the original, which I suspect is because I use fresh herbs and they use dried.

Lemon Herb Tahini Dressing is the perfect condiment for anyone eating keto, Paleo or Whole30. I like it spooned over roast chicken, fish, shrimp, steak, and lamb chops (OH MY GOD IT IS SO GOOD ON LAMB). It thickens as it sits in the refrigerator, so you can use it as a dip for veggies or chips. It's also excellent on zucchini, cauliflower, potatoes, and scrambled eggs.

Basically, everything.

All you need is a blender and a few simple, fresh ingredients. It's ready in less than five minutes and keeps for about 10 days in the refrigerator. It's one of my staples now. You're going to love it!

Yield: 12Author: Erika Kerekes

Lemon Herb Tahini Dressing

Lemon Herb Tahini Dressing takes five minutes to make and is the perfect sauce for chicken, fish, shrimp, steak, lamb, zucchini, cauliflower, eggs and more. Fresh herbs and lemon give it a bright color and zingy flavor.

ingredients:

• 2 lemons
• 1 clove garlic
• 4 cups fresh green herbs (any combination of parsley, cilantro, dill, mint, chives, basil)
• 1 cup tahini
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Water (to achieve correct consistency)

instructions:

1. Zest the lemons.  Cut the pith off the outside and discard. Cut the lemons in half crosswise and discard the seeds. You will be using the whole lemon fruit, not just the juice.
2. Wash the herbs (no need to dry them).
3. Put the lemon zest, lemon flesh, herbs, tahini and olive oil into the blender. Blend until smooth.
4. Add water until the dressing has the consistency of heavy cream.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Store in an airtight jar or container in the refrigerator. Keeps up to 10 days.

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Roasted Hatch chile mayonnaise

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It's Hatch chile season again, and food lovers in my neighborhood are going nuts. The long, tapered green chiles from New Mexico have a cult following here in southern California. I can get both the hot and mild varieties at just about every grocery store within a 10-mile radius.

Many stores have chile-roasting events in their parking lots so you can take home bags of freshly roasted chiles instead of having to roast them at home. Personally, I don't mind roasting them at home.

I wash the Hatch chiles, turn the burners on my gas stove to high, and lay the peppers directly on the iron grates of my stove. I turn them until they're blackened on all sides, then pop them into a zip-top bag to steam. The charred skin slips off easily and I'm left with strips of fragrant roasted chiles to use in sandwiches, quesadillas, casseroles, and condiments like this Hatch Chile Mayonnaise.

I've already made several quarts of this roasted Hatch Chile Mayonnaise since Hatch chiles showed up in local stores a few weeks ago. My husband and sons love it on a roast beef sandwich. Or you could:

• Spread it on a sandwich with roast turkey, thinly sliced Granny Smith apples, shaved red onions and watercress
• Spoon it on a burger (put some diced roasted Hatch chiles in the burger itself, too)
• Serve it with broccoli fritters, zucchini fritters or spinach pancakes
• Use it as a sauce for oven-roasted salmon fillets or chicken
• Mix it with chopped hard-boiled eggs for the best egg salad of your life

Enjoy!

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Hatch Chile Mayonnaise

by Erika Kerekes July-21-2015

A simple condiment made with roasted fresh Hatch chiles from New Mexico

Ingredients

• 6 Hatch chiles (hot or mild)
• 1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
• 1 Tablespoon lime juice

Instructions

Wash the Hatch chiles. Roast them over an open flame on a gas stove (I lay mine directly on the burner grate), turning frequently, until the skin is black and charred on all sides. (If you don't have a gas stove, broil the peppers in the oven, turning frequently.)Put the charred Hatch chiles in a zip-top bag for 30 minutes. They will steam as they cool.Slip the charred black skin off the chiles. If you want your Hatch Chile Mayonnaise very mild, remove the seeds and ribs from inside the peppers. Put the roasted Hatch chiles, mayonnaise and lime juice into a food processor. Process until smooth.Store in a clean jar with a tight-fitting lid in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks.

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 5 mins Total time: 25 mins Yield: 2 cups

Introducing Not Ketchup

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If you've been wondering where I've been, take a look at http://www.notketchup.com and all will be clear.

More later. Must go pack boxes.

Guest post for October Unprocessed: Cherry chipotle "Not Ketchup"

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I think you'll be interested in my guest post for October Unprocessed, which is up on Eating Rules today.

The post talks about the process I've gone through in the past few months developing Not Ketchup, my new line of condiments that will be on store shelves in southern California soon and then (I hope!) around the country.

It also includes a recipe for a homemade, completely unprocessed version of my Cherry Chipotle "Not Ketchup" - which, as you'll see when you read the post, varies slightly from the formulation that eventually ended up in stores.

Read the post: Cherry Chipotle "Not Ketchup" on Eating Rules

Fig balsamic vinegar relish

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Summer felt slow, relaxed, leisurely. But now that fall is here, the days are whizzing by.

All year I was looking forward to fresh fig season. And then, in what seemed like a blink, it came and went.

My friend Erin's Mission fig tree was generous this year. I visited three times in three weeks and picked 10 pounds each time. More figs than I would ever buy. More figs than one family can eat in a month.

And yet, now that we've eaten our fill and the tree has given and the season is over, I miss those figs dearly.

Or is it summer I'm missing?

One August day, when the tray of Erin's figs was challenging me silently from the counter, I made this fig balsamic vinegar relish to serve to guests with a platter of cheese. Spooned on top of a log of fresh, creamy goat cheese, the fig relish added just the right touch of sour and sweet and summer.

Make this relish a day or two ahead and let it sit in the refrigerator so the flavors mingle and marry. It's beautiful with goat cheese, but cream cheese would work, or Brie, or ricotta. If fresh figs are gone for the season, don't despair - you can easily substitute dried figs (just add a little water to the pot to compensate). And don't use your most expensive balsamic vinegar. The cheap supermarket stuff will do just fine for this relish.

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Fig balsamic vinegar relish

by Erika Kerekes September-23-2013

Make this fig relish a few days ahead so the flavors have time to mingle and marry. Serve at room temperature over a soft, creamy cheese.

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large or 2 small red onions, peeled and diced
• 4 cups fresh figs, preferably dark purple Mission figs, chopped
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary, leaves stripped from stems, finely minced

Instructions

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add red onion and saute 3-4 minutes, until onion begins to turn translucent. Add figs, vinegar, honey, salt, pepper, and rosemary. Stir to combine, bring to a boil, turn down the heat, and simmer about 45 minutes, until the mixture is glossy and thickened. Check seasoning and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Cool before serving or storing.Note: For best flavor, store fig balsamic vinegar relish in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 1-2 days before serving.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 1 hour Yield: approximately 4 cups

Santa Rosa plum jam

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The first thing I did when my husband and I bought our house in Santa Monica 17 years ago was to plant fruit trees in the backyard.

The house came with an old avocado tree, a scraggly lemon tree, and a dwarf fig tree. I put in lime, tangerine, Meyer lemon, kumquat.

Most of which died. Turns out the huge eucalyptus tree we removed when we moved in did something nasty to the soil, and baby trees don't like eucalyptus oil.

But the Santa Rosa plum tree I put in about five years ago has held its own. Last year it gave us three plums. I was encouraged.

This year we got a cool dozen and a half plums. All of which ripened at once. So I cut them up, added some sugar and boiled them down into a gem-colored jam that looks and tastes like a southern California sunset during fire season, all flame-red and intense.

Santa Rosa plums are hard to find outside California. They're thin-skinned and turn soft as soon as they ripen, so shipping them is nearly impossible. But you'll never find a plum that tastes more like a plum than a Santa Rosa. If you see them, grab them.

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Santa Rosa plum jam

by Erika Kerekes July-17-2013

Fruit, sugar and heat: That's all you need to make this Santa Rosa plum jam. If you can't find Santa Rosas, substitute another tart, purple-skinned plum.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds Santa Rosa plums, pitted and chopped (weigh after removing pits)
• 2 cups granulated sugar

Instructions

In a medium-sized pot, combine the chopped plums with the sugar. Let sit 5 minutes. Bring the plum mixture to a boil, then quickly turn down the heat to medium (not low) and cook the jam about 20 minutes, until the syrup has thickened and the bubbles coming to the top are big and viscous. Turn off the heat and puree the jam with a hand-held immersion blender, or pour the mixture into a countertop blender or food processor and blend until smooth.Immediately pour the jam into a clean jar or other glass container. Cover, let cool on the counter, then refrigerate until chilled. Use within 4 weeks. (Alternatively, you can process the jam in a water bath according to standard canning methods - I'm just way too lazy.)

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 30 mins Yield: about 2 1/2 cups

Cracker Jack ice cream sundae, a dessert my dad would have loved

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My dad was a sugar addict. I don't use the word "addict" lightly, but when it came to my dad and candy, addiction is the only way to describe it.

Daddy pretended he never ate candy. He hid his stash where he thought none of us would find it: the desk drawers and credenza in his office, the bathroom, the trunk of his car.

I think I was a teenager when the family finally caught on. We were sitting at the kitchen table after dinner craving a little something sweet. My mom, ever calorie-conscious, suggested an apple. Daddy went out the door to the garage and came back with jelly beans. "Where'd you get those?" my brother and I asked. "Doesn't matter," he replied with a smile, tossing them on the table. The next time I followed him out to the garage and found him rummaging in the back of his Corvette. I looked over his shoulder and saw his impressive stash - the Corvette's trunk isn't that big, but it holds quite a bit of candy when it's packed to the brim.

Daddy loved licorice all-sorts, jelly beans, Boston "baked beans," and Cracker Jack snacks, but he also kept lollipops and hard candies in a rainbow of flavors. I try not to eat a lot of candy now - my teeth, my waistline! - but sometimes, especially when I'm missing my father, a sweet treat is just the thing. When I do indulge, I always reach for my dad's favorites.

When the folks at the Cracker Jack brand asked if I'd be interested in trying some of their new flavors, I had to say yes. My dad passed away almost five years ago; their email felt like a sign. And when the samples came and I opened a bag and took my first bite, I started to cry. I ate the whole bag without stopping, thinking about the baseball games, fishing trips, and summer family dinners of my youth - many of which included Cracker Jack snacks.

Whether you buy original flavor Cracker Jack popcorn snacks or the delicious new Kettle Corn or Butter Toffee flavors, I bet many of you will experience the same rush of nostalgia I felt. The sweet crunch of the popcorn punctuated by the occasional salty peanut - Cracker Jack snack is one of the iconic tastes of my childhood.

I'm always happy to eat Cracker Jack snack on its own, but for a twist try tossing them on top of an ice cream sundae. This one has rum raisin ice cream because it was my father's favorite, although judging by how many stores I had to hit to find rum raisin, I'm guessing it's not such a popular flavor these days. If vanilla is more your style, go right ahead.

Note: The team at the Cracker Jack brand provided me with free samples of Cracker Jack snacks to use when writing this article. No other payment changed hands. All memories and opinions are, of course, my own.

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Cracker Jack ice cream sundae

by Erika Kerekes June-24-2013

This ice cream sundae combines three of my dad's favorite sweet flavors: rum raisin ice cream, gooey caramel sauce and Cracker Jack snacks as a crunchy topping.

Ingredients

• 3 scoops rum raisin ice cream
• 2 Tablespoons caramel sauce (make your own or buy a bottled brand)
• 1/2 cup Cracker Jack snack (Original, Kettle Corn or Butter Toffee flavor)

Instructions

Scoop the ice cream into a bowl. Drizzle the caramel sauce over the ice cream and top with the Cracker Jack snack. Serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 3 mins Cook time: 2 mins Total time: 5 mins Yield: 1 serving

Pear chutney

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Chutney is an undervalued condiment. Whether paired with meat, cheese, charcuterie or curry, an assertive fruit chutney always brings something special to the table.

I am so passionate about chutney - a sweet-savory mixture of fruit stewed in vinegar, sugar and spices - that I once considered starting a chutney company. I went to my local Whole Foods on a reconnaisance mission. What did I find? An entire aisle of salsa, ketchup and mustard, hundreds of bottles and jars. And, on the very top shelf only giants could reach, exactly three kinds of chutney.

I never got around to bottling this pear chutney for sale, but I've made it every year for two decades. It couldn't be easier and it goes well with just about everything. I brought to the Food Bloggers Los Angeles "Apples & Pears" potluck this weekend, spooned on top of ultra-ripe Brie and thinly sliced dry Polish sausage from Colorado's North Denver Sausage (handmade by my friend Kathy Laurienti). There were no leftovers.

Note: I don't bother with proper canning and instead opt to keep my jars in the refrigerator - the combination of sugar and vinegar keeps the chutney fresh at least six months, and I've pushed it to a year and beyond. If you prefer to keep your chutney at room temperature, make sure you process the jars properly to keep them bacteria-free.

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Pear chutney

by Erika Penzer Kerekes October-1-2012

A sweet-sour-spicy condiment that pairs well with meat or cheese.

Ingredients

• 6 large or 8 medium firm Bartlett pears, cored, peeled and diced
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2/3 cup light or dark brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
• 1/8 tsp red chile pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup dried tart cherries or cranberries

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a large pot. Bring just to a boil over medium-high heat, then turn down the heat and simmer covered for 30 minutes, then uncovered another 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. The chutney is done when the mixture is soft and the liquid has reduced slightly and looks glossy. Use a potato masher or immersion blender to reduce some of the larger chunks of fruit to mush, but be sure to keep the chutney chunky. Store in clean jars in the refrigerator up to six months, or process according to basic canning instructions.

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 1 hour Total time: 1 hour 20 mins Yield: approximately 4 pints

Chocolate cashew butter

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In the frenzy leading up to Trufflepalooza, my annual truffle-laced foodgasm party, I get so caught up in the preparations that I forget something very important.

I forget to feed my family. And myself.

When the refrigerator is full of ingredients for 20 dishes for 150 people, there's very little room left for actual food that hungry husbands and kids might want to eat for breakfast.

This is a problem.

The solution: pizza. Or pulled pork from the freezer, tossed into quesadillas. Or scrambled eggs.

Or, on the day when I was craving chocolate peanut butter cups but a) couldn't leave the house because I had 300 homemade corn tortillas to press and griddle and b) had a huge but mostly empty jar of roasted salted cashews from Costco that was taking up way too much room in the pantry, this simple chocolate cashew butter.

Got a food processor, mini-chopper or blender? This is what it's for. Pour in the nuts and chocolate, hit the button, wait a minute, and you've got chocolate cashew butter, something really delicious and decadent to spread on your morning toast. I was going for a healthier version of Nutella but opted for grainy rather than silky-smooth. Felt more like health food that way. If you want it smoother, pour in a little milk or cream and be patient with your appliance.

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Chocolate cashew butter

by Erika Penzer Kerekes August-4-2012

Two or three ingredients + a powerful electric appliance = a delicious chocolate nut butter to spread on your morning toast.

Ingredients

• 1 cup cashews, roasted and salted
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1 Tbsp heavy cream or whole milk (optional)

Instructions

Pour the nuts and chocolate chips into the bowl of a food processor, mini-chopper or blender. Press the button and wait while the machine pulverizes the nuts, melts the chocolate and turns the whole mess into a smooth, spreadable butter. If the texture is still too grainy for your liking after 2 minutes of processing, add the cream or milk and continue for another minute. It will never get as smooth as Nutella, but then again, it's a lot less like a candy bar and a lot more like nuts plus chocolate.Spread on toast. No one will argue if you scatter banana slices on top.

Details

Prep time: 1 mins Cook time: 3 mins Total time: 4 mins Yield: approximately 1 1/4 cups

Fresh herb butter

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Give toast, boiled potatoes, pasta or a weeknight steak a quick pick-me-up with this simple herb butter, made with any mixture of fresh herbs your palate prefers.

It's as simple as this: Let some good butter soften on the counter. Chop a heaping pile of mixed fresh herbs and add them to the butter with a little sea salt. Mix. Store the herb butter in the refrigerator for a week or in the freezer for the longer haul.

If you have an herb garden, tidy it up with your pruning shears, then use the clippings to make this herb butter. If not, grab bunches of basil, parsley, dill, cilantro, chives, mint, etc. at the market and go to work. If you like things garlicky, add a clove of fresh garlic to the mix. A food processor makes chopping the herbs painless, but if you prefer your knife and a board, that works too.

I used Kerrygold's Naturally Softer Irish Butter for this batch because I'm impatient and didn't want to wait for a stick of butter to soften. I don't know how they do it - the ingredients are just cream and salt, same as regular butter - but something in the churning process for this product keeps it soft and spreadable, even straight from the refrigerator.

I met the Kerrygold USA team at Camp Blogaway a few weeks ago, where they showed us a beautiful slideshow of the Irish cows, Irish grass, and Irish dairy farmers who turn out Kerrygold butter and cheese. They say you can taste the grass in the butter and cheese - I'm not sure I get grass exactly, but the butter is tasty indeed. It makes a terrific base for this elegant herb butter.

No, Kerrygold is not paying me to say any of this. I bought the Kerrygold butter for this recipe at Costco with my own hard-earned money.

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Herb butter

by Erika Kerekes May-21-2012

Mix chopped fresh herbs into softened butter and you end up with a compound butter that's way more than the sum of its parts. Use it on toast, boiled potatoes, pasta or steak.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup good butter
• approximately 1/2 cup mixed fresh herbs, chopped finely (basil, parsley, mint, chives, cilantro, dill, etc.)
• 1 garlic clove, minced (optional)
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Instructions

Let the butter sit at room temperature until softened. Using a large spoon, mix in the fresh herbs, garlic (if using), and salt. Mix until well combined. Store the herb butter in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to three months.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 5 mins Total time: 10 mins Yield: approximately 1/2 cup

Fruit salsa with loquats

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Fresh loquat salsa pairs beautifully with grilled chicken or pork

I spent this week peeling and seeding loquats. Pounds and pounds of loquats. My friends with loquat trees always call in May. I'm a New York girl who still can't believe food grows on trees. They know I won't say no to ripe loquats, and they know I'll put them to good use.

Loquats grow prolifically in southern California on large trees with dark-green glossy leaves. They look like orange testicles (well, they do!) and taste like plums crossed with roses. They don't travel well, so if they don't grow in your area you may never see one. Come visit me in May. I'll hook you up.

Ripe loquats don't last long once they're picked

This week I made quarts of loquat jam, which I stir into coconut rice pudding. I topped loquats with buttery oats and brown sugar and baked a loquat crumble fit for royalty. And one night I grilled chicken and made a divine loquat salsa.

I use the same formula for all my fresh salsas: fruit, onions, cilantro, lime, salt. The fruit determines the character of the salsa. Loquats are sweet and tangy, making this salsa the perfect match for grilled meat.

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Fruit salsa with loquats

by Erika Kerekes May-12-2012

Ripe loquats make a refreshing and exotic salsa, but you can use this same formula with any fruit (or tomatoes). Serve with grilled chicken or pork tenderloin.

Ingredients

• 20 large or 30 small ripe loquats
• 1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
• 4 stalks green onion, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice (1 large lime)
• 1/8 tsp salt, or to taste
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Instructions

Wash the loquats well. Break one loquat in half by sticking your thumbs down into the middle from the stem end and pulling apart. Use your thumb to scoop out the seeds and pinch off the flower end. Peel the skin from the flesh - it should come away easily. Place the flesh on a cutting board and repeat with the rest of the loquats. Chop the loquat flesh with a large knife and put it in a bowl. Be forewarned: Preparing loquats is a labor of love. It's not quick.Add the red and green onions, lime juice, salt and cilantro, and mix well. Let sit 30 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to meld.

Details

Prep time: 29 mins Cook time: 1 mins Total time: 30 mins Yield: approximately 2 cups

Amanda's quick pickles

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My dear friend Amanda is staying with us for a few months. In general, this is a wonderful thing, because I love Amanda with all my heart.

The only problem is that, as I think I've mentioned, I am a teeny tiny bit territorial when it comes to sharing my kitchen.

Luckily, Amanda knows me well enough that a) I can admit this to her without worrying about whether she will still love me back and b) she has taken to doing her cooking when I'm at work or asleep. Whether this is out of consideration or self-preservation I'm not sure. But it doesn't matter, because it means that occasionally I get home from work, open the refrigerator, and find delicious things.

Amanda, who's from Wisconsin, says these quick pickles were the first thing her now-stepmother made when she and Amanda's dad began dating. Did the pickles win Amanda over? "Not exactly," she says, "but they made me enjoy going over to her house a lot more."

Amanda's family typically makes these with cucumbers only, but we had some small sweet peppers and tossed those in too. If you like things spicy, add one hot pepper along with the mild ones.

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Amanda's quick pickles

by Erika Kerekes March-3-2012

Equal parts of water, sugar and white vinegar make up the brine for these quick refrigerator pickles. When you eat up the pickles, slice up more vegetables and add them to the remaining brine - it'll work just as well the second time.

Ingredients

• 6 Persian cucumbers (or 1 English cucumber), skin on, thinly sliced
• 6 miniature sweet peppers, any color (or 1 large bell pepper), thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup water

Instructions

Put the sliced cucumbers and bell peppers in a jar. Add the sugar, vinegar and water, then screw the top on tightly. Shake the jar until the sugar has dissolved. Put the jar in the refrigerator to cure the pickles. They'll be ready to eat within a few hours, but the longer they stand the stronger they'll get. Keep them refrigerated and eat them within a week for optimal texture.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 1 mins Total time: 11 mins Yield: 4-6 servings

Superfoods forever: Kale pesto recipe

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Kale pesto

I'm still in the throes of my love affair with kale. Man, I hope this one lasts a while. Every time I eat something with kale I feel all those vital nutrients seeping straight into my cells. I swear my skin looks better because of kale. Kale for breakfast, kale for lunch, kale for dinner. Kale in eggs, kale in smoothies, kale in soup, kale in salad, kale in quiche, kale on pizza. It's been all kale all the time over here for weeks.

I have my health coach Rachael Pontillo of Holistically Haute Wellness to thank for my crush on kale. We've been working together about three months now, and as a result I've made a few subtle (but, I hope, long-lasting) changes to my diet. I start the day with hot water spiked with lemon. I'm focusing on whole grains and avoiding white flour whenever possible. And I'm eating as many greens in a day as I used to eat in a week. All these are good things and will help me live forever. Right? Right.

I've used this kale pesto on pizza and on a grilled cheese sandwich. There might be pasta in my future, even though I'm trying to cut back on wheat. What do you think of alternative-grain pastas, like brown rice pasta? I've been hesitant to try non-wheat pasta - I worry it will be such a disappointment that I'll rebound and eat nothing BUT pasta for days on end. But I'm interested to hear your opinions.

By the way, I threw a bunch of radish tops into this pesto, too. Use what you have. Kale is friendly.

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Kale pesto

by Erika Kerekes February-8-2012

Kale makes friends easily with other greens and herbs, so use whatever you have - radish tops, parsley, chard, arugula. This pesto rocks on pizza, pasta, polenta, grilled cheese, or a spoon.

Ingredients

• 1 large bunch Tuscan or curly kale, leaves stripped from stems and roughly chopped (4-6 cups)
• 1-2 cups arugula, chard, radish leaves, parsley, cilantro, or whatever other greens you happen to have around (optional)
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tsp salt, or to taste
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, peeled
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan, Romano or Grana Padano cheese (optional, or substitute 2 tsp nutritional yeast)
• 1 cup pine nuts, almonds or walnuts, toasted in a dry skillet until fragrant
• 3/4 cup olive oil

Instructions

Put the greens, lemon juice, salt, garlic, cheese (if using), and nuts in a food processor with the chopping blade. Turn the processor on and let it run about 10 seconds. Begin pouring the olive oil in through the feed tube. When you've added all the oil, let the processor run another 30 seconds or so, until the pesto is smooth. Store the pesto in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 5 mins Total time: 20 mins Yield: approximately 2 cups

Caramelized apricot jam

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Caramelized apricot jam.

Also known as "This is what happens when you're working at home and you get an unexpected conference call" apricot jam.

My home office is at the other end of the house from the kitchen. I didn't see or smell the jam boiling over until it was too late. I salvaged what I could.

On the up side, the jam had an unusual, deep, beautiful color (russet? auburn?). I had never seen apricot jam like this. And the flavor was complex, almost a little smoky, unlike any other apricot jam I'd tasted. I've discovered that this caramelized apricot jam pairs beautifully with almond butter, and it's fabulous with a ripe brie - the slightly burnt sugars give it some really unusual overtones.

On the down side, it took a week of soaking, several wads of steel wool, and the elbow grease of three people to get the pot and the stove clean. 

Great jam. I highly recommend it. But prepare yourself for the cleanup.

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Caramelized apricot jam

by Erika Penzer Kerekes June-26-2011

Even absent-minded cooks can make good jam. It's not burned. It's caramelized.

Ingredients

• 1 pound fresh apricots, pitted and chopped
• 2 cups granulated sugar

Instructions

In a heavy saucepan, combine the apricots and the sugar, and stir to combine. Let the fruit sit an hour at room temperature, stirring once or twice to redistribute the sugar. The sugar will draw the juices out of the fruit and create a syrup.Put the pot over medium heat and bring the apricot mixture to a boil. Turn down the heat and continue to cook at a simmer about 1 hour, or until the jam has turned a deep rust color and you can feel some burned bits sticking to the bottom of the pan when you draw a spoon through it. Let the jam cool a bit, then transfer it to a clean jar or plastic container. Store in the refrigerator and use within 1 month. As soon as you remove the jam from the saucepan, soak the pan in hot water. You may have to soak it for a few days. You'll definitely need some steel wool to get rid of all the burned-on bits.

Details

Prep time: 1 hour Cook time: 1 hour Total time: 2 hour Yield: 2 pints