Sunday, January 25, 2009

Penne in Creamy Basil-Walnut Sauce

Penne in Creamy Basil-Walnut Sauce

Now that I've moved, the front of my balcony faces East. I'm not certain, but I think if I can find a window box type pot that hangs over the edge of my balcony, I'll have full sun on the right side of my balcony. Possibly.

Full sun in the summer means I can plant a mess of basil, which is my favorite summertime herb. I tried growing it in my kitchen once, but because I didn't have any windows it died after only a month. A coworker also used to bring me large bunches whenever her basil started to grow like weeds in her garden, but now that I'm no longer at that job I have to come up with a new solution. My new apartment has the balcony and I think it might just work. If not, I can always grow it in pots on my mom's sun-filled deck. I might even grow a tomato plant this year. Tomatoes and basil.. yum.

Even though it's not the season for basil -- it snowed several inches over the weekend in fact -- I made a creamy pesto type pasta dish, Penne in Creamy Basil-Walnut Sauce. I bought the basil late last week for something, but it never got made. So, before it went completely bad, I tried this recipe.

Using a slice of bread to make it "creamy" seemed odd to me, but I thought, 'what the heck, it might turn out.' And you know, it wasn't bad. By all means, cream sauces with cream are better, and pesto sans cream with plenty of oil is preferable, but for a healthier for you swap it wasn't awful. I might make this again.

If anything, it made me crave warmer weather.

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