giada inspired

Every couple of weeks, I like to try out at least one new recipe for dinner. I like the variety and have found some recipes that have become favorites rotated into my recipe repertoire.

Up this week, I tested out a recipe from Giada de Laurentiis’ “Giada at Home” cooking show: Tenette with Eggplant and Basil Pesto.
Anything with pesto and pasta sounds appetizing to me, so I thought I’d give it a try.

I had to alter the recipe a little, as I couldn’t find trenette pasta, so I opted for penne instead.

The recipe calls for a homemade pesto made with toasted pine nuts, two cups of fresh basil leaves, salt, pepper, olive oil and Parmesan cheese, combined in a blender or food processor. Honestly, I tend to shy away from recipes that use a blender or food processor just because of the added cleanup, but this was completely worth the extra time. Having only made fresh pesto in my Italian cooking class during my semester abroad a few years back, I’d never tried it on my own, but wish I had sooner. Alex called it a burst of flavor in his mouth – the taste was so intense and fresh!

Because I don’t always have a ton of time to cook dinner during the week, I’ve been trying to do prep work over the weekend. In this recipe, I was able to make the pesto ahead of time and stick it in the fridge, which saved a huge chunk of time.

After making and tasting the pesto, I was so excited to test out this recipe. And with the pesto ready to go, all that was left was cooking up the eggplant and the pasta, which made for a pretty quick meal. Once both were cooked, I mixed everything together, topped with Parmesan cheese and presto!

I was so inspired by the episode of “Giada at Home,” I decided to also try out a recipe for bruschetta with fontina and greens, slices of grilled bread topped with sautéed spinach, topped with fontina cheese and broiled until the cheese melted over the spinach and bread.

It was so quick and easy and a great way to eat more greens. Both recipes are definitely keepers.