Granted, Biebs wasn't necessarily talking about this specific pesto, but he did say it about some pesto once. Probably. Maybe it was a different Justin Bieber. Anyway, here's the deal -- I had a bunch of cilantro left over from last week and was afraid it would go bad, so I made cilantro pesto, not really following a recipe. It wasn't terrible...
Recipe #12: Cilantro Pesto Pasta with Chicken
Choice of libation: Branca Menta (an Italian liqueur with herbs and mint essential oil) in ginger beer. That was a terrible idea. Why did I do that? Yuck.
Choice of music: Cilantro pesto seems very 80's to me. I don't know why. So I listened to "Make it Big," the second album from British pop duo, Wham! I feel like I really understand it now.
This is about a handful and a half of cilantro. I thought I would treat it like a normal pesto, where I would normally have some sort of green like basil or arugula or spinach...
I usually use lemon, but I was feeling lime with cilantro...
Woah, woah, woah, I'm almost done making the pesto. Let's all slow down. Oooh, it's Careless Whisper! ...Yes. It's true: Guilty feet HAVE got no rhythm.
I also just needed to get rid of chicken in my fridge, so here. Salt,pepper, olive oil. This is a terrible terrible picture.
I folded in some whole wheat pasta and spinach, because, again, trying to get rid of stuff in the fridge and pantry.
Oh geez, I'm sorry guys. All of the pictures from this blog look really gross.
Toss everything together. Actually, this one doesn't look awful.
Hooray! Throw some cheese on it (which is a good idea for most meals (unless you are lactose intolerant (or vegan))) and you're good to go. It actually tastes okay. Not like pesto. And actually, not like cilantro. Mostly like garlic, which I'm okay with. In fact, I'm pretty sure I will continue to taste the garlic from this meal for the rest of the week. Which I am also okay with.
I managed to complete this dish in the same amount of time it took to play the entire "Make it Big" album. That must mean something.
This recipe wasn't stolen from anything this time...
SAUCE:
4 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 cups fresh cilantro, lightly packed
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
whole wheat pasta
3 chicken tenders
3 cups baby spinach
handful of shredded cheese of some sort
Place the garlic and cilantro in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. With the processor running, slowly add the oil, lime juice and zest, salt, and pepper. Process until smooth.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until chicken is golden, and cooked through.
Cook whole wheat pasta according to package instructions.
Add pasta and spinach to chicken and toss with pesto.
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