Pesto, Pesto Man... I've Got To Be a Pesto Man!

Pesto is wonderful. Not much else to stay. You take herbs and you mix it with garlic, cheese, olive oil and nuts. You have a wee bit of texture from the nuts, a rich herb flavor and some cheese. Really what's not to like?

I also find pesto to be amazing because it is so versatile. Delicious on sandwiches with fresh mozzarella, incredible in place of sauce on pizza or amazing on just simple pasta. Here is my recipe for basil pasta plain, simple, but fantastic. To be completely fair I adapted Ina Garten's which can also be found here. The only difference is that I prefer pine nuts so I used them in place of walnuts.

Basil Pesto

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Yields: 4 cups

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Pine nuts
• 3 tablespoons Garlic, chopped (about 9 cloves)
• 5 cups Basil leaves, packed
• 1 teaspoon kosher Salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black Pepper
• 1 1/2 cups Olive oil
• 1 cup Parmesan, grated

Directions:

1. Place pine nuts and garlic in a food processor.
2. Process for 30 seconds.
3. Add basil, salt and black pepper.
4. Slowly pour olive oil and processor is running.
5. Continue processing until mixture is pureed.
6. Add cheese and puree an additional minute
7. Serve in any way listed above or anywhere else you think it would be good! Store in fridge or freeze.

Bacon Bonanza #2: Bacon Between Bread

One of my favorite things in the whole world is a good grilled cheese sandwich with real cheese, whole wheat or fresh baked bread and tomato. In many grilled cheese recipes I have found online, seen on TV or at restaurants I have noticed bacon included in some fashion. At some point I will write about my the glorious concoction we all call grilled cheese, but this is not that post. This is about using bacon in grilled cheese.

As one note about my general philosophic approach to grilled cheese is that the cheese MUST be the star. You can't be loading up the deli meats or the bacon, add one slice of cheese, grill and call your sandwich a grilled cheese. THAT, my friends is a MELT not a GRILLED CHEESE.

So on to the bacon. I wanted to make two sandwiches. Both almost identical except for the cheese used. My logic was to combine the sweetness of from white Spanish onions, the saltiness bacon and the fruity acidity of tomato to really accentuate the deliciousness of cheese.

My roommate thinks I'm over thinking these things. What do you think?

For first sandwich I used a sharp Wisconsin yellow cheddar. I thought this would be a nice classic approach to a grilled cheese. It was a quality sandwich.

For the second sandwich I used one of my all time favorites: brie! This was an excellent choice because of how brie melts, but I think it has notes of both salty and sweet in its flavor. Paired with the onions, bacon and tomato all the flavors really combined to pack an incredible taste. This was also one of my favorite bacon application both for taste and texture... in all that creamy brie a little bit of a crisp bacon was nice.

TECHNICAL NOTE: Do not follow the pictures for the cheddar sandwich unless you are really skillfull at flipping a grilled cheese. I made a huge mess and did something different with the brie, that I think is better. I kept it open faced and after the cheese was melt I then pushed it together on my plate.

Grilled Cheddar Sandwich

Prep time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tablespoon Vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup white Spanish onion (or other sweet varieties), chopped finely
• 2 strips Bacon, diced into bacon bits
• Two slices bread (I used whole wheat. Use whatever you like, but a simple sliced white bread might not hold very well)
• Butter, enough to spread on inner side each slice of bread
• 1/4th lb Cheddar, sliced as thin as possible (this will make it easier to melt)
• 2 thin slices Beefsteak tomato (or another large variety)

Directions:

1. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan. Add onion.
2. Cook onion on medium heat until they start to become transparent, about five minutes.
3. Add bacon and cook until warm.
   


4. Place bread side by side in a large frying pan or skillet.
5. Layer cheese on both slices of bread. On one side layer tomato slice to cover the length of bread. On the other spread mixture of onion and bacon.
   
6. Cook on low to medium heat until cheese begins to melt.
7. Bring slices together. I recommend keeping the one with the onion/bacon mix as the bottom (imagine flipping that mess over!).

Grilled Brie Sandwich

Prep time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tablespoon Vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup white Spanish onion (or other sweet varieties), chopped finely
• 2 strips Bacon, diced into bacon bits
• Two slices bread (I used whole wheat. Use whatever you like, but a simple sliced white bread might not hold very well)
• Butter, enough to spread on inner side each slice of bread
• 1/3rd lb Brie, as much rind removed and sliced as thin as possible (this will make it easier to melt)
• 2 thin slices Beefsteak tomato (or another large variety)

Directions:

1. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan. Add onion.
2. Cook onion on medium heat until they start to become transparent, about five minutes.
3. Add bacon and cook until warm.
4. Place bread side by side in a large frying pan or skillet.
5. Layer cheese on both slices of bread. On one side layer tomato slice to cover the length of bread. On the other spread mixture of onion and bacon.
   



6. Cook on low to medium heat until cheese begins to melt.
7. Bring slices together. I recommend keeping the one with the onion/bacon mix as the bottom (imagine flipping that mess over!). I also recommend doing this on a piece of foil or a paper towel over a plate. While eating the brie will ooze out so being able to wrap it might be nice!