Refrigerator Raider: Leftover Spinach

I picked up some spinach at Georgia's Farmer's Market and it's approaching its "final stages". If I don't do something now, it's going in the trash. It's not too challenging to use spinach...unless you've already prepared, cooked, and eaten dinner!!


What now? I'm not about to make another meal for tomorrow. But I did come up with something FANTASTIC. I've had this before, but I've never made it to purge my fridge...


Spinach Pesto! Get the great taste of traditional pesto plus way more Iron than you would get with Basil!

These are the ingredients:


Spinach
1/4 c. Olive Oil
1/4 c. Pine Nuts or Walnuts
3 Garlic Cloves
Shredded Parmesan Cheese (not shown)
Salt and Pepper



Pulse dry ingredients in food processor. Slowly add olive oil until you get a paste-like consistency. Add salt and pepper. (Yes, I know those are dry ingredients, but you don't add those until the end!)



The result was actually really good and you can't ignore the beautiful bright green color. I forgot to add parmesan, but once I did, it was so much better. The Parmesan gives it that bite that it needs. Walnuts would be better than pine nuts...and you'd get some Omega 3s. Use good olive oil! Also, keep your pine nuts in the fridge.



Now you can have a 15 minute meal ready to go. Pair this pesto with Penne. (There's a tongue twister!) Spaghetti and orrecchiette will work also. Add some sun dried tomatoes or diced tomatoes for color. Do not COOK your pesto with your pasta! You'll loose the bright color of your pesto and you'll cook out the nutrients in the olive oil. Add room temperature pesto to hot pasta and a spoonful of the starch water from the pasta pot. You should be good to go.



Raider Rater:

Taste: 5 ears
Nutrition: 4 ears
Repeatablility: 5 ears
Ease: 5 ears