It being easier to drive to Florida than to fly for a recent trip to visit the parents, I stocked my bag with plenty of cookbooks and magazines, one of which was the February issue of Food and Wine magazine.
Having gorged myself on Mom's cooking the whole weekend (and earning my sister's enmity when I childishly IM'd her to gloat about the dishes that Mom was making for me), I was in a happy state of food bliss so reading about food on the road was perfectly apt.
Heidi Swanson, of 101 Cookbooks, one of my favorite food writers and bloggers, is featured in the magazine with several of her recipes, including one for Broken Lasagna with Walnut Pesto. It sounded so dark, so delicious: whole wheat pasta, walnut pesto, bitter greens and mushrooms... Knowing all we had access to on our trip home were fast food restaurants left me a bit grouchy but Hubby made good time in getting us home.
Having cleared the fridge over in anticipation of our trip, a quick trip to the grocery store was needed to pick up mushrooms and arugula but upon returning home, I realized that the pantry lacked whole wheat lasagna, so I had to substitute with whole wheat fettucine. Heidi's recipe is beautifully simple and quick -- perfect for two ravenous people whose sole nourishment on our 7 hour drive were some pastries that Mom made for us (a brief stop to McDonald's ended when we asked for a refund and left without food [long story].)
I've never thought to make pesto with other nuts but the walnuts are perfectly balanced against the bitterness of the greens and the dish, as I had imagined, has a flavorful smokiness to it that kept me coming back for more.
It's so nice when a recipe you read tastes exactly like how you hope it will when you finally make the dish...
Heidi's recipe can be found here.
I kept reading your description, saying "Wow, where's the recipe, where's the recipe, where's the recipe?"
Voila, there it was
Posted by: Kevin at TasteTV | February 10, 2007 at 03:18 PM
Kevin - let me know your thoughts when you try it. I absolutely LOVED this dish!
Posted by: cath | February 11, 2007 at 12:08 PM
I too made this recipe as soon as I read the article, and had faith that since it was Heidi's it would be good. Boy was I pleased. Although, it did taste healthy (mainly because of the whole wheat pasta) it was still a very tasty and satisfying healthy. I also substituted whole wheat fettucini and thought the pesto with the walnuts married perfectly with the swiss chard I used.
Posted by: Jen | February 13, 2007 at 06:01 PM
Wow. This sounds delicious! Even if it does call for whole wheat pasta (I'm a snob and find myself worried that whole wheat pasta will be too strong tasting and too tough in texture - too granola-like.)
We usually make our own lasagne - half semolina and half unbleached all-purpose flour. I wonder if throwing in a little buckwheat into the pasta might work for this dish.
-Elizabeth
Posted by: ejm | February 15, 2007 at 05:33 PM