Pesto may seem like a summer thing but this one was made with real live veggies that are still growing in New York (err, as of last weekend at least.)  Spinach and sage are pretty hardy as far as greens and herbs go and there is something smoky and rich about sage that makes it perfect for the holiday season.  Why resort to dried herbs when you can still use fresh?

I used this pesto to top a sweet and nutty Sunchoke Latke but you can use it perk up any winter root - how about smothering a pan of roasted potatoes with it?  Or stirring it into celery root mash?

If you want to get really wild, open a box of pasta (size and design your choice) and dump it into a simmering pot of well-salted water.  Cook to al dente, drain, and mix in enough pesto to make the whole shebang green and yummy.

Time: 15 minutes
Makes about 2 cups of pesto

Winter Sage Pesto

1 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 sweet onion, roughly chopped
1/2 cup loosely packed sage leaves, stems removed and roughly chopped
1 1/2 cups loosely packed fresh spinach, roughly chopped
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil or more
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Grind up the walnuts in a blender until coarsely ground.  Add the onion, sage, spinach, lemon and olive oil.

Blend until well combined.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Thin out with more olive oil if desired.

Bjork once noted in an interview that she sometimes writes her lyrics in English, translates them to Icelandic, and then translates them back to English. Neat, no?

Similarly, this recipe has gone through a series telephone-like translations and I think you’ll find the results equally (or more, quoth the Li’l Sis) delicious than the original recipe. I learned to make Khichri (a classic Indian comfort dish - sometimes the first solid food a baby eats) from Nalini Mehta and I posted this recipe of a traditional Khichri combination last year. A friend, who I will refer to as Mr. Appleseed, surprised me on a dark rainy October night with a big pot of complex-scented rice, peas, and veggies very similar to the below recipe. I was extremely pleased to be treated to a hot home-cooked meal (the downside of having a food blog is that I’m always the one sweating it out in the kitchen) and even more flattered so to find that dish I was eating was in fact based on one of my very own recipes. How endearing! Admittedly, I am highly susceptible to flattery when eating delicious food prepared by hands other than my own.

So anyway - here is my new recipe for Green Autumn Khichri based on Mr. Appleseed’s Khichri which is based on my other Khichri recipe, which I initially adapted from Nalini Mehta. Chewy short-grain brown rice makes a great base for the smoky green split peas and the combination of vegetables is just plain inspired.

Serves: 4 hungry people
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Green Autumn Khichri

Olive oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
8 cloves
8 black peppercorns
1 tsp turmeric
¼ tsp asafetida, optional
½ tsp coriander powder
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala
1 ½ cup green split peas, toor dal, or moog dal
1 ¼ cups short grain brown rice
7 cups water
1 inch fresh ginger, minced
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno (I used red), minced (de-seed if you don’t like things very spicy)
3 carrots, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 japanese eggplants, cut into coins
1 bunch swiss chard, chopped
salt

Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a large pot and toss in the dried spices: cumin seeds, cloves, and peppercorns. Stir them for few minutes until they turn a few shades darker.

Add the ground spices: ginger, turmeric, asafetida, coriander, cumin, and garam masala and stir.

Add the peas and rice, stirring to coat them with the spices, then add the water.

Bring the rice mixture to a low boil, set a lid on and simmer for 20 minutes. Tip: this could be a good time to chop your veggies.

Stir well, check to see if more water is needed (like a risotto, this mix “eats” water) and add the vegetables: garlic, carrots, green peppers, hot peppers, eggplant, and chard.

Covered, bring the pot to a simmer and stir occasionally for another 40 minutes until the vegetables are tender and the rice is mushy. Add salt to taste.

I know I’ve presented mini-blitz of squash recipes lately, but I’m following a new cooking mantra (and trying to clear my fridge, windowsill, and veggie bins of CSA veggies) to only cook seasonal fruits and veggies. Sometimes inspiration comes from the strangest places. I was doing my obligatory CSA hours at the farmer’s market and I noticed a customer checking out the produce with the time and attention that a curator might take to inspect a potentially fraudulent painting. When he paid for his items I asked him what he was considering so carefully – he was choosing just the right butternut to make squash gnocchi. “Squash Gnocchi!,” I thought with an exclamation point, “boy, I’ve got to try that at home.”

What I found is that this is not, sadly, the simplest dish to make. But it’s very satisfying in a this-is-want-I-want-after-a-long-day-of-raking-leaves sort of way. I followed gnocchi making directions that suggested to roll a piece of already labor-intensive dough down a fork in such a way that it had tine-marks on one side and an indentation on the other side. I couldn’t quite figure this out, even though I practiced about 80 times. And if I ever had to do it again I’d probably impale myself on a rake. I’m suggesting the diagonally-chopped log approach to you folks - it will save a lot of time and frustration and I suspect that your gnocchi will be more tender to boot since you won’t be handing them as much.

With all the care that goes into making these gnocchi you’re not going to want to disguise your work with a bulky sauce. So this one is just butter and mellow roasted garlic laced with crispy sage leaves. Perfect for the season.

Serves: 4
Time: 3 hours (2 hours to cook and cool the squash, 1 hour to make the gnocchi and sauce)

Squash Gnocchi with Roasted Garlic and Sage Brown Butter

1 medium squash (try a drier variety like butternut or buttercup)
2 heads garlic
olive oil

Pasta
2 eggs
1 1/2 - 2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt

Sauce
1 stick butter
20 or so whole fresh sage leaves, stems removed
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Halve the squash lengthwise and place it cut side down on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 to 1 ½ hours, or until soft to the touch. Cool and set aside.

Discard any loose leaves on the garlic heads and brush off any dirt. Slice the top off the head of the garlic so it exposes the interior of each garlic clove. Place on a baking sheet cut side up, drizzle with a little olive oil, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the garlic is golden and fragrant. When garlic has cooled sufficiently, pop the cloves out of the skins by squeezing the root side of bulb. Set aside for the sauce.

When the squash has cooled, scoop out the seeds and surrounding stringy matter with a spoon. Extract the flesh from the skin and whip with a fork, or pass through a food mill if you happen to have one of these contraptions. What I’ve found is that watery squash makes for a less flavorful gnocchi so simmer the squash pulp over medium heat until reduced and dry, but not browning or burnt. You want to work with ¾ cup of squash.

Beat eggs in a small bowl and incorporate ¾ cup of condensed squash pulp. In a different larger bowl mix 1 1/2 cups flour with salt.

Start water boiling in one or two large pots. Be sure to salt the water quite a bit.

Slowly fold the squash/egg mixture into the flour, working as little and lightly as possible. Depending on the consistency of your squash you may need to add more flour until the dough stops sticking to your hands.

Break dough into a few pieces and on a lightly floured surface roll the dough out into a snake shape with the width the size of a nickel. Dust the top of the snake with flour and cut 1/2 inch slices on a diagonal to make the gnocchi. Keep the gnocchi on lightly floured baking sheet while you are rolling and cutting the rest of the dough, but it’s best to get them cooked as close to their creation as possible.

Gently ease the gnocchi into the lightly boiling water. You will probably not be able to fit them all in at once, so do them in batches. Stir to make sure they don’t stick to the bottom. With a slotted spoon, take them out when they start to float, 2-3 minutes.

In a large pot melt the butter over medium heat. When it starts to foam add the sage leaves and cook until the butter starts to brown and the sage gets crispy. Add the whole roasted garlic cloves and cooked gnocchi and mix until the flavors meld together.

Serve immediately with a side of sautéed greens, maybe a warm beet salad, and definitely a glass of crisp white wine.

To be perfectly honest, I created this pizza merely as a vehicle — a platform of sorts to showcase one of my favorite veggies: hot chili peppers. I love the taste, the tang, and of course the heat.

My quest for a hot pepper pizza took on a life of its own and ended up a very pleasing combination of chewy crust, zesty hot peppers, tangy sauce, and refreshing herbs.

I served two 14″ pizzas to four people and there ended up being one slice left… only because we were all too polite to lay claim to the last piece.

Active time: 35 minutes
Baking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4

2 12-14 inch pizza crusts – homemade (see below) or purchased
16 oz frozen tofu
1 small bottle of Asian Sweet and Sour or Peanut Sauce
1 red onion, diced
3 banana peppers, sliced
2 yellow bell peppers, diced
3 red bird chili peppers, sliced finely
salt, pepper
handful fresh basil, chopped
handful fresh mint, chopped
handful fresh cilantro, chopped
sesame oil

Preheat oven to 425.

Crumble the tofu in a bowl and add about 2 Tbsp of sweet and sour or peanut sauce to flavor the tofu. Mix.

Make (or unpackage) your pizza crust and roll out to the size of your pizza pans or cookie sheets. I use this wheat crust from Allrecipes.

Brush the dough with enough sauce to coat.

Sprinkle a layer of tofu over the pizza.

Top with the onions, banana peppers, yellow bell peppers, and red bird chili peppers.

Season the pizzas with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until crust is golden.

Top with the fresh basil, mint, cilantro and a drizzle of sesame oil.

This is a recipe that I feel almost guilty for calling a recipe.  A delicious pesto can be made to order following the below formula; just fill in your favorite herb, greens, nuts, oils and flavorings:

Mix-n-Match Pesto Generator Recipe

• 2 cups or so of herbs (basil, cilantro, dill, parsley, arugula, watercress, spinach)
• 1/2 cup nuts (pine nuts, pistachios, walnuts, almonds, cashews, macadamia)
• a bit of savory flavor (optional - Parmesan, miso, nutritional yeast)
• a bit of tangy flavor: (lemon juice, vinegar, lime, olives, jalapeños, onions, garlic
• Oil! (olive oil, avocado oil, walnut oil, thai chile, sesame oil)

Use whatever stuff is growing wildly on your doorstep or appears in abundance in your shopping cart. 

You can mix your fashionable new pesto in with pasta, top a pizza with it, slather it on bruschetta, fold it in with omelets, create a new a salad dressing, etc!

You can also make a pesto with roasted tomatoes, beets, or marinated veggies like olives, artichokes, peppers.  Go crazy.

If you’d like a more specific pesto recipe, try some of the tasty looking ones below, which I’ve culled from very reliable sources:

Yummy-looking Cilantro Pesto and a Classic Basil Pesto from Elise at Simply Recipes
A raw pesto dish - Basil Pesto over Zucchini “Pasta” by the fantastic folks at What the Hell Does a Vegan Eat Anyway
Beautiful Asparagus Pesto by 28 Cooks and a proven hit low-fat version by SusanV at FatFree Vegan. 
And here’s 28 Cooks Basil and Habanero recipe.  So pretty! 
Great minds think alike!  Check out the Pistachio Arugula Pesto at VeganYumYum
Mmmm! Beet Pesto from Alanna at Veggie Venture.  What a great way to use your CSA veggies!  And here’s her concurrently-posted Arugula Pesto.

My very own recipe for Cilantro Arugula Pistachio Pesto has a taste reminiscent of guacamole and has proven to be just as addictive.  The tartness of the arugula stands up to the assertiveness of the cilantro, and the heat from the jalapeños and mellowness of the avocado oil round this out into a sauce you want to eat right from the spoon… which is just fine until you have a dozen dirty spoons sitting in your sink.

Time: 20 minutes
Makes over a cup of pesto

Cilantro Arugula Pistachio Pesto

1/2 cup pistachios
1 bunch of arugula, roughly chopped and stems removed
1 bunch of cilantro, roughly chopped and stems removed
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
1 small jalapeño, deseeded and minced
juice of 1 lemon
big pour of avocado oil
big pour of olive oil

In a blender or food processor, pulse the pistachios a few times to break them up into small pieces. Add the arugula, cilantro, onion, lemon, and a pour of avocado oil. Try blending and add olive oil until the pesto is liquid enough to blend smoothly. Depending on your intended use you can add more oil or keep it nice and thick. (If using on bruschetta keep thick, but add more oil if you’d like to mix it in with pasta.)