Hanim Cooks!

Walnut Pesto.

I bought a bunch of basil leaves during one of my groceries trip some time ago. I needed to use just a little bit but they don’t sell it in small packet. So I stashed the rest into the freezer. It was 3 weeks ago.

Too lazy to think of what I can do with it, might as well make pesto. Didn’t have pine nut so I used walnut instead.

Ingredients

1 clove garlic
A handful of basil
1/4 cup walnut
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
A squeeze of lemon juice
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Method

In a food processor, blitz garlic and basil. Add walnuts and half of the cheese. Drizzle in olive oil while blitzing the mixture. Add a bit more cheese and olive oil until it reaches the consistency you want. Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper.

A friend suggested to add in some coriander leaves. You might want to make a separate batch and try it out.

My go-to canned tomatoes for any tomato based sauce. It is stewed with onions, green capsicum and celery; means it adds flavor and I can skip peeling, slicing and sautéing them.

Bechamel Sauce.

I’m planning to bake lasagna this weekend and I thought well maybe I can share one of the component of the recipe, that is the bechamel sauce also known as white sauce. If you do not know this, bechamel sauce is a layer of sauce incorporated in lasagna recipe, normally as a base before your line your casserole with the first layer of lasagna and top it off before sprinkle the cheese on top of the last layer.

This sauce is typically used as a base of many French cuisine but the Italians adopted it and is one of the basic foundation of baking a lasagna (I will talk about it more on detail in another post).

So what is bechamel sauce? It is basically scalded milk mixed with butter and flour until it reaches a consistency that you want. I found the basic recipe here but it lacks in flavor so I came up with something a little bit different, though common. My recipe below is perfect for lasagna.

• 5 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp all purpose flour
• 4 cups low fat milk
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

In a saucepan, heat butter over medium-low heat until melted but not browned. Add flour and stir until smooth. Cook until the mixture turns light about 5 minutes.

In another saucepan, heat milk just before it reaches boiling point. At milk to the butter mixture 1 cup at a time, consistently stirring with a whisk to avoid lumps. Bring to a boil. Cook for about 10 minutes until it becomes thick and leaves a thick film on your spoon when..err..spooned (umm..i’m not sure this word is appropriate for recipe instructions but I think you got what i mean, right?). Season with salt and nutmeg and set aside.

Other usage of bechamel sauce:

Add some of your favorite cheese and turn it into toppings for veggies such as carrots, potatoes or broccolis.

Add some gruyere cheese and leeks, perfect for grilled fish/chicken gravy.

Add some pureed walnuts, garlic, parsley, ricotta and turn it into walnut sauce for pasta.

It really is versatile. Maybe you can come up with your own recipe :) Also, this sauce can be made few days in advance. Make sure you cover with cling film and keep it refrigerated. 

Aioli (Garlic Mayonnaise).

If good aioli is something I can get off the shelf here, I wouldn’t bother making one.

I would normally have this with fries or wedges. It goes well as sandwich base, with roasted chicken or salmon.

Here’s the recipe.