Pesto Zucchini Melt

The zucchini just keeps a'coming, and so do the recipes I have to share. While most of what I've shared so far this season has been my take on someone else's recipe, this was the first recipe the came to me without any external inspiration. As a born-and-bred Wisconsin girl I've made my fair share of fancy grilled cheeses, so it only seems natural that use that template to use up the bountiful crop my Wisconsin garden has bestowed upon me. Zucchini is admittedly mostly a good canvas, so the gooey cheese and herby pesto are the real stars here, providing a fresh and crunchy base nicely contrasted by a hint of sharp red onion. With a plentiful herb garden I also have a plethora of homemade pestos at my disposal, but this is scrumptious with even the store bought variety. Pesto, whether store-bought or homemade, is one of the best shortcut ingredients to keep around, punching up pastas, proteins, eggs, sandwiches, and salads with minimal effort. All the satisfying richness of grilled cheese, with an element of sneaky vegetable nutrition, this twist on a comforting classic is a winter staple with a bit of summer soul.

Pesto Zucchini Melt
serves 1

1/2 cup shredded zucchini

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon mayo
1 tablespoon pesto
2 tablespoons thinly sliced red onion
Whole grain tortilla, bread, or pita
1 ounce thinly sliced or shredded mozzarella and/or provolone

Canola or olive oil cooking spray

1. Place shredded zucchini in a colander, sprinkle with salt, and toss to combine. Allow to drain for at least 15 minutes, then squeeze in a paper towel to remove excess moisture.

2. Mix zucchini, mayo, and pesto together in small bowl. Spread mixture evenly one one slice of bread, top with red onion and cheese, and place second slice of bread on top.

3. Preheat a pan over medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Add sandwich and cook, flipping once, until filling is warm and cheese is melted, about 4 to 5 minutes per side. Remove from pan, slice in half, and serve promptly.

Pesto Chickpea Melt

Remember how I mentioned how I can get obsessed with riffing on one kind of recipe? When it comes to mashed chickpea melts, I'm still at it. Chickpeas are an excellent canvas for all manner of flavors and I've been equally pleased with the way they've played with Indian, barbecue, and now Italian flavors. Last time I was all about barbecue sauce and sharp cheddar cheese and this time I'm all about the pesto and provolone. I spend many an hour working in the kitchen over labor-intensive recipes, but sometimes it's just the punched up quick and easy recipes that really put a bright spot in my (busy) day. When it comes quick recipes like those, prepared shortcut ingredients are your best friend. I'm made both my own barbecue sauces and pestos in the past, but when there isn't time to get Fannie Farmer in the kitchen, a great bottle off the shelf is more than acceptable. The success of this recipe really comes from a happy partnership of sauce and cheese so spending a little extra for some high-quality sauce and cheese is well worth it. Somewhere between comfort food and virtuous grilled cheese, this melt is the perfect way to add a little something special to an ordinary meal.

Pesto Chickpea Melt
serves 1

1/2 cup cooked chickpeas, coarsely mashed
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
1 tablespoon mayo

1 tablespoon pesto
Whole grain tortilla, bread, or pita
1 ounce thinly sliced or shredded mozzarella and/or provolone (optional)

1. Mix chickpeas, onion, mayo, and pesto together in small bowl. Spread mixture evenly in center of tortilla, cover with cheese, and roll up tortilla.

2. Preheat a pan over medium heat. Add wrap, seam side down, and cook, flipping once, until filling is warm and cheese is melted, about 4 to 5 minutes per side. Remove from pan, slice in half, and serve promptly.

Mediterranean Salad with Hummus Pesto Dressing

It's a little strange that I chose to share a recipe for a hearty soup on day that held promise of the spring to come and this salad just a few days after the snow just wouldn't stop falling, but during the tumultuous transition between winter and spring, it can be a little hard to eat with the weather. But even though this is a salad, it certainly leaves you plenty satisfied and full of energy to tackle shoveling or more optimistically, take a long walk with the dog on a sunny spring day. Perhaps the Mediterranean Salad moniker is a bit too liberal or a bit too generic, but it is a collection of many ingredients often used in Mediterranean cooking that I absolutely love. It's a riff on my typical salad recipe, a plethora of raw and roasted veggies with cheese and nuts, but made particularly rich-feeling by the creamy hummus pesto dressing. The roasted red pepper adds an element of smokiness, the marinated artichokes spiciness and astringency, the olives and cheese both richness and saltiness, all finished with a sprinkling of crunchy, toasty walnuts. My initial instinct was to toss this salad with balsamic vinaigrette, but when I saw some lonely last bits of pesto and hummus in the fridge, I immediately thought of transforming them into a simple, flavorful dressing that became the pièce de résistance that finished this salad. It's perfectly filling as is, but if you're feeling particularly ravenous or want to stretch this to feed two, some chickpeas or grilled chicken certainly wouldn't be out of place. It may not be a warm Greek beach looking out upon cerulean waters, but perhaps these collection of flavors will take you away from the toils of winter for just a lunch.

Mediterranean Salad with Hummus Pesto Dressing
serves 1

2 cups chopped fresh spinach, lettuce, or salad greens (about 2 ounces)
1/2 jarred roasted red pepper, sliced (about 2 ounces)
4 or 5 jarred marinated artichoke hearts, drained and sliced (about 1.5 ounces)
2 tablespoons black olives
2-4 tablespoons crumbled goat or feta cheese (1/2 to 1 ounce)
2 tablespoons chopped toasted pine nuts or walnuts
Hummus Pesto Dressing, for serving (recipe follows)

1. Spread greens evenly on a large plate and top with peppers, artichokes, olive, cheese, and nuts. Drizzle with Hummus Pesto Dressing (or other dressing of choice) and enjoy!

Hummus Pesto Dressing
makes about 3/4 cup

1/2 cup roasted garlic, roasted red pepper or regular hummus
2 tablespoons prepared pesto
1/4 cup water

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl or jar and whisk or shake to thoroughly combine.

Italian Sausage and Spinach Melt with Pumpkin Pesto Mayo

It's no secret I love pumpkin. By far my favorite member of the squash family, pumpkin is a delicious addition to sweet and savory dishes of all kinds, but this may be my most unique pumpkin creation yet. I'm probably playing up the role pumpkin plays in this dish a little much, but just a scant 1/2 tablespoon of pumpkin butter is an important element of the flavor profile of this dish. Just that little hint of sweetness accentuates the savory Italian sausage and herbaceous pesto, with the hearty rye bread providing an ideal backdrop for the melding of all the brilliant flavors. Recipes like this is one of the reasons I do so love a fancy sandwich for experimenting with flavor combinations and creating unexpected culinary experiences in ordinary dishes. My schizophrenic pantry provides me with ample opportunity to introduce ingredients that are ordinarily strangers, but this combination is delicious enough to pick up a couple extra things at the grocery store to try it yourself.

Italian Sausage and Spinach Melt with Pumpkin Pesto Mayo
serves 1

1 link sweet or hot Italian sausage, casing removed
1 ounce fresh spinach, washed, dried, and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon mayo
1/2 tablespoon prepared pesto
1/2 tablespoon pumpkin butter
2 slices dark rye bread
1 ounce shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat a pan over medium heat. Add Italian sausage to pan, breaking into small pieces. Cook until fat is rendered and sausage is no longer pink. Add spinach and cook until wilted. Remove pan from heat.

2. Meanwhile, combine mayo, pesto, and pumpkin butter in a small bowl and spread evenly over one slice of bread. Preheat a panini press. (Alternatively heat a pan over medium heat).

3. Spread cooked sausage and spinach evenly over the second slice of bread and top with the shredded cheese. Place first slice of bread on top, mayo side down.

4. Spray panini press (or pan) with nonstick cooking spray. Cook until cheese is melted and fillings are warmed through, flipping once if using a pan on the stove. Remove from heat, let sit for a  minute or two, then slice into two halves and serve promptly.

Baked Pumpkin Penne with Kale

Sick of pumpkin yet? I'm definitely not. And for all the other pumpkin devotees out there, I offer up another savory pumpkin pasta dish. In Whole Wheat Rotini with Pumpkin Alfredo and Walnuts, pumpkin pairs splendidly with nuts and Parmesan cheese, but this dish gets an extra boost from a bit more of each of those ingredients in the form of pesto. Just a scant couple of tablespoons adds a whole new dimension to the dish, the savoriness and herbaceousness of the pesto really making the sweet pumpkin flavor pop. When it comes to preparing kale, roasting is most certainly my go-to method, but blanching the kale in the pasta water enriches the flavor of both the pasta itself and the sauce, which uses reserved pasta cooking water, and hopefully recovers at least a bit of vitamins and minerals lost in the blanching process. Other hearty greens could be used in place of the kale, or even spinach, though the cooking time should be reduced for the more tender greens. Other winter squash puree could also be used in place of the pumpkin, with butternut being the most obvious substitution. A perfect balance of sweet and savory elements, this is dish is a more-than-fitting tribute to fall's favorite gourd.

Baked Pumpkin Penne with Kale
adapted from Martha Stewart
serves 4

Coarse salt and ground pepper
8 ounces whole wheat penne, cooked and drained
4 ounces kale (preferably lacinato), thick stems removed and leaves chopped into 1-inch pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree, or homemade pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons prepared pesto
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta to al dente according to package directions in well-salted water, adding kale during the last 3-4 minutes of cooking time. Drain kale and pasta mixture, reserving at least 1 cup pasta cooking water.

2. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin and pesto and season with salt and pepper.

3. Add warm pasta-kale mixture to the pumpkin-pesto mixture, tossing thoroughly and adding enough pasta cooking water so that the sauce thoroughly coats the pasta and there is enough sauce to cover all the noodles during baking. Transfer to a 9-by-9-inch baking dish and top with almonds and Parmesan. Bake until top is golden, about 30 minutes.

Pea and Parsley Pesto with Linguine

This is definitely a meal that feels like spring. Although the recent temperatures may be fooling us into thinking summer has already arrived, the calendar tells us that we've just barely passed the vernal equinox and I certainly don't want to skip over the quintessential flavors of spring. Although it's still a bit too early for farmer's market peas and parsley (though I have seen the first broccoli!), this dish is full of fresh flavor and definitely honors the spirit of spring dining. Pesto purists may balk at the idea of using anything other than pine nuts and basil, but my open mind and palate was more than delighted by the balanced combination of peas, parsley, and walnuts with de rigueur Parmesan and olive oil. You'll only use about half of the pesto in this recipe, so I recommend portioning the pesto into ice cube trays and freezing for a delicious sauce at your fingertips any time. If you're serving carnivores that simply can't enjoy a meal without meal, grilled chicken breast would be a great addition to this recipe, but it is completely satifying as is. Fresh, salty, nutty, and savory, this pasta is sure to please anytime from busy workday to romantic date night.

Pea and Parsley Pesto with Linguine
adapted from Everyday Food
serves 4

2 cups frozen peas (from a 10-ounce bag)
1 cup packed fresh parsley leaves
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
2/3 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
12 ounces whole wheat linguine or spaghetti

1. Cook 1 cup peas according to package instructions. In a food processor, combine cooked peas, parsley, walnuts, Parmesan, garlic, and 1 tablespoon water. Pulse until a paste forms. With machine running, slowly add oil, processing until blended; season with salt and pepper.

2. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions, adding 1 cup peas 30 seconds before end of cooking. Reserve 1 cup pasta water; drain pasta and peas. Return pasta and peas to pot; toss with 3/4 cup pesto (reserve remainder for another use), adding enough pasta water to create a sauce that coats pasta. Serve pasta with more Parmesan.