Thursday, March 18, 2004

Ah, I'm in Flagstaff for a short period of about 36 hours, just long enough to become very tired trying to get everything done. Thank god I don't keep in touch with more people here! Not really, I guess, but even keeping up with a few people is a lot of work. Okay, here's pesto lasagna, tested by me and Greta the other night and very yummy.

Pesto Lasagna
You need:
Pesto (a lot), see last entry
veggies (we used eggplant, spinach, mushrooms)
some tomato sauce, or crushed tomatoes
lasagna noodles
fake ricotta (silken tofu mashed with a fork, mixed with lemon juice and soy sauce)

Cook the noodles. Put some tomato stuff on the bottom of a rectangular pan, the a layer of noodles, then veggies, then ricotta, then noodles, then pesto... Layer until you run out of stuff, with a little tomato stuff from time to time. Sprinkle nutritional yeast on top. Bake at 350 for maybe 45 or 50 minutes. If you use eggplant, make sure and cut it really thin so it will cook. This recipe turned out really well for us, but I've only tried it once, so I'm still somewhat skeptical. But it was good, so by all means go for it.

Sunday, March 07, 2004

I'm back! I've actually been back for almost a week, but it's taken a while to get back to "normal" life. All of my auditions were okay, although I wouldn't deem any of them spectacular. So it goes, and no all I have to do is wait around for letters or big envelopes from everywhere.
I made pesto pizza with my friend Maria when I was at Yale. Pesto smells so unbearably good when you are making it, it's like the cooking equivalent of an orgasm. Anyway, I suggest putting this on pizza or pasta. If you go for pizza, it's good with tomatoes, olives (black or green), artichoke hearts, and feta if you eat cheese.

Pesto
2 1/2 cups fresh chopped pesto, tightly packed
2 large pressed or chopped garlic cloves
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, almonds or pine nuts
1/2 cup parmesan cheese or (if you're vegan) parmesan cheese substitute
1/2 cup olive oil
salt to taste

Just grind everything up in a food processor. It's easy! Then put it on pizza or put a big dollop on a plate of pasta and mix it up.
That said, I should note that these amounts are fairly arbitrary. Last time I made this, I just put stuff in until it looked good, and it worked fine. I suggest using LOTS of garlic, and I haven't tried using any nuts except pine nuts, but they're bloody expensive so feel free to experiment with a less pricey nut. And I highly, highly suggest chopping the basil and garlic by hand and inhaling deeply. I am positively smitten with this scent. Mmmmmm... Kitchen ecstasy.