Phatony: Did you make the pesto sauce yourself or have one you recommend?

I've been terrible about cooking in recent times, so I'm making an effort to get back in the game, especially as my CSA yields are starting to become more substantial.

I've been in a bit of a time crunch, though, and not feeling very creative, so I did 6 zucchini's worth of beef-tomato-zucchini stuffed zucchini, and I've been having a lot of sauteed bok choy, snap & snow peas, etc.

But I had a crisper drawer half full of garlic scapes and a few heads of broccoli -- I think it was 4 heads of broccoli and about 25 scapes -- and I got a little creative. While roasting the chopped broccoli and scapes, which I had tossed w olive oil and s/p, I sauteed two onions and added 8c chicken broth. When the roasted veggies were done, I just simmered them in the broth/onions for like a little over a half hour and stick-blended the whole thing. Roasted garlic (scape) and broccoli soup. Boom.

It's surprisingly good, though I oversalted a bit, so if I were going to serve it to guests, I would either need to thin it with water or cut it with a couple potatoes. Or I could thicken it and use it as a sauce for meat or pasta.

Detroit's too far north for me amigo, but if you're ever in Dallas, swing by when I'm working and I'll smuggle you some vittles

Made it.

Pestle and mortar: Salt + garlic, grind up. Once it's a paste, add fresh basil leaves and grind up. Once the basil is quite bruised throw in raw pinenuts, and grind again until they're broken down, then mix in a large amount of freshly grated parmesan. Once it's a nice pale green paste, add in as much olive oil as you desire.

Food processor: Throw the above in at once and pulse until done.

I prefer doing it by hand, but it's much of a muchness.

thanks a lot

I'm glad to hear this, I've often wondered if I was crazy being this anal about salt, but there really is a difference.

I need to check out more sea salts & Maldons, I've got some hawaiian pink salt I use occasionally and I blew through a box of black sea salt. The stuff was so good and mild, I would eat it out of the box

A couple good meals from the past week or so...

Miso/Ginger glazed salmon and fried rice..


Lobster roll..


Split Breast with Tarragon/Lemon/White Wine sauce, Quinoa Pilaf, and Broccolli..

costco grilled red snapper and brussels

fish was scored and seasoned with olive oil, cilantro, garlic, lemon wedges, salt/pepper and then grilled for approximately 18-20 mins...took longer than I thought

fish was delicious but quite a bit of work and would probably just go for halibut or salmon next time but definitely fun

Cooked up a rack of lamb last night with a nice herb crust - was my first time trying this out and it turned out exactly as i wanted it to:

awesome

God, that's gorgeous.

Would you please share your teriyaki recipe? I have not found a recipe for teriyaki that is very nice.

.

Anyone know anything about knives? I wanna buy my bro a nice set (but not too nice, we're cheap). From this: http://www.crateandbarrel.com/kitche...d/knife-sets/1

I'm thinking of either getting:

Wusthof Gourmet 7-piece ($120)
Wusthof Gourmet 9-piece ($130)
Wusthof Gourmet 12-piece ($200)
Wusthof Classic Black 7-piece ($300)

Anyone have any opinion on where things change as far as quality and number of pieces is concerned? And thoughts on the prices?

Thanks.

The Cooks Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen folks recommend piecemealing the set. Way better quality at the same price, and you just need to buy a knife block to go with it.

Amazon link to ATK a la carte set

Thanks for the help dude. Honestly though that might be more effort than its worth, I think my brother will be very grateful if I get any of the ones I posted above. I'm wondering what kind of difference in quality and value I could expect given that 120-300 is a pretty big price range...?

Can't really be that much effort, since all you have to do is click buy on each of the links.

If you're set on getting a set, then either the 7 or 12 (the 9 is a steak knife set). Though Amazon has the 10 piece set, same brand, at $160. Amazon Link

You really don't need more than 3 knifes. A chef's knife, paring, and serrated. I also use a boning but I make lots of chicken soup/stock. Quality > Quantity.

that lamb looks ba-ah-ah-dass.

How big is your boner?

Eh yea you're probably right about the effort, I just don't think he'd care and I might as well get a wood block with it. Thanks for that link, that's another good option. Still not sure about if/how much quality difference there is between I guess the gourmet and classic black.

Yea agreed. So you think either of the 2 7's? How does the quality compare between those 2 sets, both 7 pieces?

Thanks guys.

That was a perfect Internet conversation.

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Either of the 7s would be fine. The $300 will probably be a little sharper, stay sharper longer, feel sturdier in the hand, look better etc. but the $120 will do the job very well. Go for the $300 if you can afford it and you intend not to buy another set for many years.