What's for dinner tonight?

Sorry for all the food posts recently. Apparently I need another hobby but right now it's cooking. I decided that I needed to use up some more of my garden ingredients so yesterday it was basil and tomatoes. We have SO much basil right now and it is a fairly expensive ingredient to buy fresh at the store so I decided to make pesto, something I've wanted to do for awhile now but couldn't afford to buy like $15 worth of fresh basil at the grocery store. Here is the recipe... it was really good. Grant I think was a little skeptical but was in love with the pasta!

Pasta of your choice (I used bow tie) about 1/2 pound
1/2 cup Basil Pesto (recipe follows)
slow-roasted tomatoes (recipe follows)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions to al dente. Just before draining the pasta into a colander, remove 1/2 cup of pasta water; set aside. Drain the pasta, put back in the pot, and then stir in the Basil Pesto and the reserved pasta water, a little at a time, to create a sauce.

Add slow-roasted tomatoes and toss to coat thoroughly. Put in serving dish and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Makes 2 servings.

*Pesto:
You will have more pesto than you need for the above recipe but you can spread it on bread, etc.

2 clove garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups (3 ounces) fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Wash the basil, discard the stems, and dry thoroughly. In a food processor, add garlic, pine nuts, and salt; process for approximately 15 seconds. Add basil leaves: using pulse technique, turning on and off, to shred the basil. With the machine on, drizzle in the olive oil to create a coarse mash. Add the Parmesan cheese and pulse to combine.

Makes approximately 1 cup.

*Slow-roasted tomatoes

Several fresh vine-ripened tomatoes
6 garlic cloves, minced
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 220 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Wash tomatoes and cut out the stem core. Slice the tomatoes in quarters lengthwise. Scoop out and discard the seeds, leaving as much pulp as possible.

Place tomatoes, cut sides up, on prepared baking pan. They can be placed closely together since they shrink considerably during baking.

Bake for about 5 hours, dice tomatoes and stir into pasta. Yum!

As a side note, I have added these to my Christmas list for 2008...love them!