This weekend, instead of drawing my cooking (or someone else's), I spent a lot of time actually cooking. On Saturday night, I was going to a get-together with some people with whom I used to work, all of whom have scattered their different ways but like to check in from time to time; and none of them are enthusiastic cooks. Someone proposed pizza, but as a teen librarian all I could groan loudly was "noooooo!" because I am petitioned to order (and eat) pizza on every possible occasion. So I said I would bring a main dish if others would do salad and dessert.
After pondering my options for a while, I decided to make a dish that has become a signature for me but which I seldom make because of the effort and expense. But it's so yummy (albeit incredibly rich and undoubtedly fattening) that I decided to let fate decide: If I went to Trader Joe's and they had packages of fresh organic basil, I would make it, but if they didn't, I would figure out something else. The reason is, the entire recipe is based on freshly made basil pesto, and I refuse to use some jar of stuff someone else has concocted.
Trader Joe's had the basil, so three hours later I delivered my
"Green Lasagna" to the dinner, where it was met with great appreciation and all leftovers went home with various people except for one lone square. I'm not going to share that recipe here right now, but suffice it to say that it's full of pesto, various kinds of cheeses and nuts, and green noodles. It's supposed to be spinach lasagna noodles, but I can't ever find them, so I usually end up making it with spinach fettucini, which comes out more tender anyhow.
I did, however, think ahead, and since I bought two big packages of the basil, I doubled the amount of pesto needed for the recipe, and kept back half for myself. I had plans for it. It was Oscar Sunday today, and I decided that I wanted to forego the snacks and instead prepare myself a sumptuous dinner.
This afternoon during commercial breaks from "Live on the Red Carpet," I cut up a bunch of vegetables into small chunks: red potatoes, onion, and carrots in one batch, and small red peppers, eggplant, broccoli, and mushrooms in a second batch. I mixed up some olive oil with some balsamic vinegar, cumin seeds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds, and coated the first batch, then roasted the veg on a cookie sheet in the oven for about 25 minutes. Then I did the same with the second batch, but for about 15 instead, since those are softer vegetables.
Trader Joe's was lacking one thing when I went there on my shopping trip Saturday morning: no puff pastry. But I didn't want to make a special trip just for that, so instead I bought a package with two pie crusts, and I thawed them in the refrigerator, then brought them to room temperature about the time the veg were done roasting.
I laid out (or tried to lay out) a pie crust in a pie pan. Rather than descending whole from its paper wrapping, the thing came to pieces in my hands, so it was rather a matter of taking the remaining large strip and putting it down as a base, and then tacking all the random pieces of dough back on around the edges—kind of a mess, but I did it. Then I spread a thick layer of pesto all over the pie crust. I added a bit of ricotta cheese I had left over from yesterday's lasagna, and then dumped in half the roasted vegetables. I pulled the pie crust and random strips up around the veg untl they were pretty well covered, and then stabbed the crust here and there so it would cook without getting puffy, and put it in a 450-degree oven for 30 minutes.
It was delicious. I ate about a third of it, and put the rest in the fridge for tomorrow's lunch. I used the second pie crust and made an identical one to have as leftovers the rest of the week.
And now, all that's left is...the dishes. Which is why I don't cook very often.
I do have an illustration planned: I'm going to do a simple one for just the pesto, and then on the right side make a list of all the many ways you can use pesto. But tonight I was preoccupied with the Academy Awards and didn't step away to make any art. Soon, though.
Meanwhile, here are some favorite dresses from the evening:
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| Lupita in "Wakanda forever" garb was gorgeous! |
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| Allison Janney was perhaps most dramatic! |
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But I really loved all the white, cream, nude and blush gowns of
the evening, especially this one worn by Mary J. Blige...
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| And this one on Allison Williams. Gorgeous. |
The show always has its moments...but let's face it, we really watch for the fashion.
