Swiss Chard Pesto

For the last kitchen held at the Gilmore Park Church before the summer break, we made a couple of dishes with Swiss chard. The Richmond Sharing Farm shared some of their produce to the community kitchens especially during the abundant harvest in the summer.

The community kitchen made a Swiss Chard Pesto which is good to go with a tomato based pasta or just used as a dip like we do.
Ingredients

  • olive oil
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 bunch Swiss chard, stems removed (about 6 cups)
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • 250g cream cheese
  • 1 bunch of basil leaves
  • salt and pepper to taste


Source: Gilmore Park Church Community Kitchen
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Swiss Chard Pesto

Minoo made a Swiss Chard Pesto in the Gilmore Park Church Community Kitchen. Minoo participated in one of the Richmond Sharing Farm program where you made a one time payment per year for the harvest from the sharing farm. From the month of July to September (about 10 to 12 weeks), participants will receive a weekly harvest from the sharing farm. Here is a sample of the weekly harvest in the box. She decided to share with us how to make Swiss Chard Pesto from the harvest she received from the sharing farm. Pesto can be frozen for later use.

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Minoo served the Swiss Chard Pesto on some crusty baguette. You can have them on crackers or as a dip with some homemade tortilla chips.

Ingredients

  • Olive oil (1/2 cup plus more)
  • 3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
  • 1 bunch Swiss chard (about 2 cups chopped leaves)
  • 1 cup walnuts
  • 2 ounces feta cheese
  • 1 bunch of basil leaves, wash, remove leaves and pat dry
  • salt and pepper to taste

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Source: Minoo

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Fennel Seeds Pesto

This is the last workshop to be conducted by Ian Lai for the Food Preservation workshops organised by the Richmond Food Security Society. Ian, thank you for your time and sharing your expertise with us.

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For this workshop, Ian decided to make a Fennel Seeds Pesto from the abundance of harvest from the Richmond Sharing Farm. The Fennel Seeds Pesto is very strong in flavour. It is good for marinate with fish. It is too strong to be eaten as a dip.

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Fennel is a perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is very aromatic and strong in flavour especially the seeds. Fennel seeds has a anise flavour to it and often confused with anise. The leaves has a more delicate flavour and feathery like dill. The bulb is a crisp, root vegetable and often used like onion.

Ingredients

  • Fennel Seeds
  • Tahini
  • Lime or lemon juice
  • Olive oil or water

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Source: Ian Lai

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Pesto Sauce with Walnut

Marian also included a Pesto Sauce with Walnut recipe in the South Arm Cooking Club for Senior kitchen. The Pesto Sauce can be served with the pasta which is part of the meat ball recipe.

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The Pesto Sauce with Walnut is amazingly fresh and great with the pasta dish.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups fresh basil leaves
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

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Source: unknown via Marian

Serves 10 to 12

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Easy Herb Pestos

Karen also demonstrated an Easy Herb Pestos in this food preservation session as we had leftover basil leaves from the herbs that Arzeena brought from the Richmond Sharing Farm.

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There were two types of basil leaves here, red and green ones. Karen suggested that the red ones gives a different colour contrast to food. Pesto is commonly used to flavour pasta. It is sometimes served on sliced beef, tomatoes and sliced boiled potatoes.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups fresh herbs, i.e. basil, cilantro, mint, stem removed
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil, or combination of vegetable oil and flavoured oils
  • 2 tablespoons seeds or nuts
  • optional: up to 1 cup of shredded (not powdered) hard cheese, i.e. pecorino or parmesan
  • optional: fresh garlic or roasted garlic, 2 to 4 cloves

Source: Karen DW

Yield: 1 cup

Karen also shared some flavour combinations as follow:

  • classic: basil, olive oil, pine nuts and parmesan cheese.
  • red-leaf basil, sundried tomatoes. If tomatoes are packed in oil, use the oil. If tomatoes are dried packed, rehydrate in hot water for 20 minutes and drain before using.
  • cilantro, or combination of cilantro and parsley, up to 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil and fresh ginger; no nuts or cheese for this.
  • most versatile; just basil and olive oil. Add other flavourings when ready to use.

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