Wednesday 17 November 2010

Sundried Tomato Pesto

Commitments are always easier to make than keep. A real commitment takes lots of effort, especially when the stakes are high. If you think of being married, that's a commitment that needs a 100% from both parties, 50/50 is just not going to work. Anyone who has been married longer than their honeymoon will know exactly what I am talking about.

As a married woman, with a few years experience, I know that my husband in the most wonderful man on the planet - especially when he's doing exactly what I want. But from what I've heard, I'm no ice-cream sundae to live with either (who would have guessed that)!

If you have children you'll also know how hard commitments can be. You have to get through teething, the terrible twos (which can last anything up to 5 years), school projects, the wonderfully trying tween years which are followed by the the best years of any parent's life - the teenage years.

So, I suppose you all think I'm having a hard life - being both married and having a teenager, but it's not that bad. I have a great life, except I make other commitments to things which I find difficult to juggle in normal life. One such example is Meatless Monday!

Staying dedicated to Meatless Monday would be a breeze if I was only cooking for myself, but I'm not. I live in a house with carnivores and serving roasted butternut with quinoa and peppers is just not going to meet the dietary requirements of 2 hungry lions. I envy you ladies out there who have managed to train your pack to smile when served sesame crusted tofu and steamed bok choy. I won't even tell you what my boys call bok choy behind my back!

I did however manage to make something last night that would make most meat eaters very happy and perhaps let them forgo just one night of flesh feasting without feeling hard done by.


Sun dried Tomato Pesto
Serves 4

1/4 cup of Sun dried Tomatoes, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes.
50g Toasted Walnuts
2-4 Whole Garlic Cloves (roasted until soft) - add to your preference
1-2 Whole Red Chillies (roasted until soft and charred) - add to your preference.
Juice of 1/2 a Lemon
Salt and Black Pepper
10ml Sugar
Olive Oil (Extra Virgin if possible)

Blend all the ingredients in a food processor slowly adding enough olive oil
until you have the right consistency.
Check the taste and adjust to your preference - lemon juice, salt, garlic chilli.
Serve stirred through a pasta of your choice - either spaghetti or tagliatelle work well.
Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and edible flowers (optional).

7 comments:

Nina Timm said...

I think walnuts were the perfect choice...it is the meatiest nut I know and I think it could easily floor the carnivores....Contact me about dry mushrooms, I think it is a wonderful meat replacement!!!

elpi said...

now I know how to deal with my tomatoes. I love pesto, it's perfect! great photo, it's like real food in front of me:)

Kit said...

Looks good!
I don't have a problem with one or two meatless meals a week in our house, it's just getting a substitute protein into my son that is the problem and a vegetable or two! No nuts or pulses (except baked beans), no eggs, no salad, cheese is OK but not in a sauce.... but he can subsist quite happily on rice and baked beans a couple of times a week, when I make risotto (his worst) for the rest of us.

Gattina Cheung said...

so true... and so humourous this post :D

macedonianrecipes said...

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You can visit my blog at
http://delicious-macedonia.blogspot.com/.

Anonymous said...

Looks great. Am I correct in interpreting it that were can use fish on MFM?

Cindy xxx

Marisa said...

I bet they had to swallow their words when you presented them with this great looking pesto pasta!

I'm very fortunate to have a husband that eats anything & everything, so I don't struggle too much with meatfree meals around our house. Hopefully our future children will one day follow suit.

Jeremiah 17: 7-8

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water."

It is not your business to succeed, but to do what is right : when you have done so, the rest lies with God.
C.S. Lewis

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