Using Your Frozen Summer Bounty (Part 1 – PESTO)

Cooking with Pesto

by Engrid Winslow

Photo courtesy of pixabay

Already the bounty of vegetables and herbs from the summer garden are becoming a distant memory. It’s time to dig into the freezer and start to use up some of those precious flavors in the cold winter months.

Let’s start with the delicious pesto(s) you made and froze back in June [Pesto Secrets] which is so useful in so many more ways than pasta. Pesto pairs particularly well with such winter delights as frozen roasted or sundried cherry tomatoes [Summer Harvest] and creamy mozzarella or burrata cheese so think of ways to include those items in some of the ideas listed below. But let’s look at some special spins on pesto.

*  Stir into softly scrambled eggs, or drizzle on top of a frittata

*  Mix with mayonnaise and use as an aioli on bread, in sandwiches or as a dip with vegetables

*  Spread it on a sandwich – especially a hot pressed sandwich like a Panini or grilled cheese

*  Substitute for tomato sauce on a pizza

*  Drizzle on soups such as Minestrone or Pasta e Fagioli

* Mix into salad dressing

* Toss with roasted veggies from potatoes to broccoli to eggplant

*  Serve with grilled steak, chicken, pork or even fish

*  Stir into the filling for a quiche

*  Add to chicken salad

*  Put it in a quesadilla or on pita bread sandwiches

*  Top a turkey burger with it

*  Stir into mashed potatoes or cauliflower

*  Mix it in with quinoa, rice or other grains

*  Add it to meatball, burger or meatloaf mixtures

*  Bake it into puff pastry with feta cheese and tomatoes

Here are a few others.

Let us know if you have other uses beyond pasta for the delicious pesto you made and froze this summer!