In recent conversation, I told a certain someone “I rarely remember my dreams”, with conviction. So, of course, every night since I made that declaration, I have dreamt to remember. You know how some people keep a dream journal? Or maybe that’s just a thing that people talk about that you’re supposed to do but never actually do–you know, keep a notebook by the bed and as soon as you wake up, flip on a light, grab a pen, and jot down the dream so that you don’t forget it. Side note, can you imagine sleeping over at someone’s house and at 5:02 am, they flip on a light, grab a pen, and start jotting down their dream? I’m totally doing that, just for the comedy, next time someone sleeps over. I digress.
My point in all this is that this blog, given that it’s 6:04 am right now as I write this, is serving as my dream journal. And to be honest, I didn’t have much else to say this morning to pair with this lovely pesto recipe. Alright, dream journal. In the dream, I had just had a baby–it wasn’t clear in the dream that I was a single parent but there was no specific guy around for what happened in the dream so, I guess we’ll never know. So, it’s a cold day and I’ve decided to go out with my new baby but I hadn’t bought any warm clothes or socks for my child. So, I called the one person I knew that had a kid and even though their daughter was now was 8 years old, I figured they would have some hand me downs. Then because apparently I’m going to be an amazing mother, I left my child sleeping at home in my bed to drive over and pick up the socks and jacket. Then on the way home, I got a really bad flat tire and had to call an Uber to get home. I woke up before I found out if it all worked out. It would seem that the years I spent being a nanny did nothing to increase my dream smarts about childcare. I mean, if this dream is a premonition that I’m going to be a careless new parent one day, then based on Monday night’s dream–I’m also getting a pet hippogriff. For you non-potter fans, a hippogriff is a creature which has the front quarters of an eagle and the hind quarters of a horse.
And the only thing I love more than Harry Potter, is pasta. That was one of the best segues I’ve ever written. To get serious though, classic basil pesto pasta is quite overdone in my opinion. It’s tasty, sure, but I am such a huge fan of pestos made from other herb combinations. Sorrel peaks in late spring/early summer and is a tart, lemony herb. It’s paired with mint, garlic, lemon juice, and raw almonds to make a bright and clean pesto that is then mixed in with hot pasta and fresh asparagus. Click through below the photo to read more about the pasta and less about my dreams.
Ingredients
1 pound penne pasta (or preferred short, tube pasta)
1 bunch (about 15 stalks) fresh asparagus, tough stem ends removed
1 cup fresh sorrel leaves, picked from stems
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, picked from stems
1/4 cup raw, peeled almonds
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 cloves of fresh garlic
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
parmigiano reggiano, for garnish (optional)
Directions
1. Start two pots of water to boil–one large for the pasta, and one tall for the asparagus.
2. In a high-speed blender or food processor, combine: sorrel leaves, mint leaves, almonds, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper and pulse until mixture is combined. With blender on high speed, drizzle in olive oil slowly until a smooth pesto is formed.
3. When water for the pasta is boiling, cook pasta according to the package directions. Important: before draining the pasta, reserve 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water.
4. When water for the asparagus is boiling, add asparagus to pot and cook for 2 minutes or until bright green and tender (timing does vary, depending on the size and thickness of your asparagus–so, feel free to do a taste test!) Roughly chop cooked asparagus into 1 inch pieces.
5. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the hot pasta, chopped asparagus, and pesto. If the mixture is a bit dry to mix together smoothly, slowly add in hot pasta water to loosen up the pesto.
6. Top with grated parmigiano reggiano and a few springs of fresh mint (optional)
Nifty printable version of the recipe is right about here:
- 1 pound penne pasta (or preferred short, tube pasta)
- 1 bunch (about 15 stalks) fresh asparagus, tough stem ends removed
- 1 cup fresh sorrel leaves, picked from stems
- 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, picked from stems
- 1/4 cup raw, peeled almonds
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 cloves of fresh garlic
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- parmigiano reggiano, for garnish (optional)
- 1. Start two pots of water to boil--one large for the pasta, and one tall for the asparagus.
- 2. In a high-speed blender or food processor, combine: sorrel leaves, mint leaves, almonds, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper and pulse until mixture is combined. With blender on high speed, drizzle in olive oil slowly until a smooth pesto is formed.
- When water for the pasta is boiling, cook pasta according to the package directions. Important: before draining the pasta, reserve 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water.
- When water for the asparagus is boiling, add asparagus to pot and cook for 2 minutes or until bright green and tender (timing does vary, depending on the size and thickness of your asparagus--so, feel free to do a taste test!) Roughly chop cooked asparagus into 1 inch pieces.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the hot pasta, chopped asparagus, and pesto. If the mixture is a bit dry to mix together smoothly, slowly add in hot pasta water to loosen up the pesto.
- Top with grated parmigiano reggiano and a few springs of fresh mint (optional)