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pesto

Leftover rocket pesto with stilton and walnut

February 14, 2014

Leftover rocket walnut and blue cheese pesto

Shortly after New Year, I stumbled across one of my all time favourite bargains ever. Half moons of blue stilton marked down to £1 when they’re originally been £8 each at full price.

I bought three, cut them into wedges, wrapped these in paper and put them in the freezer. Possibly freezing Stilton isn’t the best way to preserve its flavour but at this price I didn’t care. Probably I won’t need to buy any more blue cheese this year!

The price of everyday cheese as gone up by stealth. A couple of years ago, if you shopped around you could buy cheddar for £5 per kilo but today it’s nearer double that.

Worse still is the insidious size reduction of pre-packed products. Cheese, now commonly sold in 350g packs rather than 400g (and before that 440g and prior to that 500g!!) is not unique here. Everything from bottles of cola to bags of bagels has had pack sizes shaved down whilst prices remain static hoping the consumer won’t notice.

stilton-bargain.jpg

I regularly comment to my husband that it’s
a) my mental arithmetic
b) a knowledge how to cook from scratch
c) flexibility to bulk buy when items are genuinely on offer
… that keeps our shopping bills down.

If you weren’t so great at maths, not an experienced cook and on a very rigid budget it would be very different.

So I was delirious almost to find this blue Stilton priced at the equivalent of around £2 per kilo. Cheese hasn’t been that cheap this century probably.

My other thrifty habit recently has been to buy pairs of bags of rocket when they’re on offer (or indeed marked down miserable basil plants) and what doesn’t get eaten in salads or sandwiches gets whizzed up my own pesto before it turns floppy. Generally a small tub of home made pesto will stay in my fridge for up to a week and sometimes I freeze portions too.

Ways to use homemade pesto

Tossed with pasta
Spread it on toasted bread such as bruschetta or ciabatta
As a pizza sauce instead of tomato
Spread on tortilla wraps
Mixed into salad dressings
Mixed into cheese sauces
Stuff chicken breasts
Coat grilled fish fillets

Traditionally pesto would be made from basil, parmesan, garlic, pine nuts and olive oil however recently I have ringed the changes with the left over rocket leaves, used different oils, nuts and cheese. You can also make pesto mixes using roasted peppers, aubergines or sundried tomatoes rather than green leaves and herbs.

Hence this particular mix today:

Leftover rocket pesto with walnut and stilton

Half a bag of rocket
A handful of walnuts
Some chunks of blue Stilton
Olive oil
and of course garlic.

I’m not specifying exact quantities because these aren’t rigid. Simply blitz the lot in a handheld blender until you’re happy with the texture. Use it immediately or store in the fridge or freezer.

Do you ever make your own pesto?

I’m sharing this pesto with these events:

201402061706.jpg Credit-Crunch-Munch speedy-suppers-veg-imp.jpg

To Fiona hosting Elizabeth’s No Waste Food Challenge (using up rocket),  Helen & Camilla’s Credit Crunch Munch (bargain cheese) this month hosted by My Golden Pear, and finally mine and Katie’s new Speedy Suppers event for 30 minute meals.

 

 

Filed Under: Eating In Tagged With: cheese, Italian, pesto, rocket, Stilton, walnuts

Speedy supper: tenderest chicken in pesto and Boursin

September 3, 2013

Dead easy, tenderest juiciest way to cook chicken in under 30 minutes.

Boursin pesto chicken - 3

Did you ever bake a chicken breast in nothing more than curry paste and yogurt?

The results out of the casserole dish aren’t visually pleasing but I promise you tender tender chicken guaranteed with very little effort indeed.

So I wondered how it would go with a 50/50 mush mush of pesto and cream cheese. I am gradually working my way through various flavours of Sacla sauces and Boursin cream cheese and recently most evening meals seem to have featured either one or the other….

Read More

Filed Under: Eating In Tagged With: Boursin, chicken, cream cheese, pesto, Sacla

Speedy supper: ciabatta pizza with salami and chilli pesto

August 20, 2013

ciabatta-pizza-salami-chilli-pesto.jpg

I paired these two ingredients last week in my cichette Venetian style appetisers. Since I had a fair bit of each ingredient left they resurfaced in last night’s supper, a speedy tray of ciabatta mini pizzas.

Ciabatta keeps for a good week unopened in the fridge. I often buy a loaf if I’m anticipating guests who may or may not definitely be coming and not sure which day either. Everything else bar the cheese is store cupboard so it’s a very flexible appetiser or light meal that I first featured as sun blush tomato mini pizzas.

And if it turns out your guests are not coming after all, you can freeze the ciabatta until they do….

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Filed Under: Eating In Tagged With: appetisers, chilli, ciabatta, light meals, pesto, picnics, Sacla, salami, speedy suppers, sun blush tomato, Three Little Pigs

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