Pesto scones and pesto pinwheels

 In order to make room for this year's last-minute fall pestos in the freezer, I'm having to use up last year's. I found a jelly jar's worth of pineapple sage pesto, made using pineapple sage, walnuts and Gruyere in place of the basil, pine nuts and Parmesan. It works really well on pork or chicken, and I thought it might adapt well to baking. Here are two options:

Pesto scones

Adapted from RachelSchultz.com

Ingredients

3¼ cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

2½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

¾ cup butter, cut into chunks

1 cup buttermilk, plus more as needed

½ cup pesto

2/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Method

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add butter and cut in with a pastry cutter or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add buttermilk, pesto and cheese. Stir until dough comes together in a ball. (I had to add about a tablespoon more than the recipe originally called for.) Knead briefly and turn out onto a lightly floured board. Flatten into a disk about a half-inch thick. Cut into 8 wedges. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes.

Rating: Nice texture, with flaky-biscuit like top to the scones. While I’m sure they would have been tasty enough with any pesto, the pineapple sage variety worked really well here.

Note: I opted for 8 good-size wedges since I was serving these as a side along with a hearty beef stew and green salad for supper. But if you wanted to serve this as a savory at tea, I’d cut them into 12 wedges and cut down the baking time.

Pesto pinwheels

Adapted from The Guardian

Ingredients

1 sheet puff pastry (half a package), thawed until workable

2 to 3 tablespoons pesto

Toasted pine nuts

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Method

Roll puff pastry out on a lightly floured board. Spread pesto on top, leaving a half-inch border. Scatter pine nuts over the top as desired and then sprinkle on cheese. Roll up pastry, starting at the long edge. Chill for 30 minutes (this helps make slicing easier).

Cut into 3/8-inch thick rounds. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes until puffed and light brown.

Rating: Nice enough, and fairly fast to fix. Stuff you're likely to have on hand if guests show up with short notice. I'd show you pictures, but my camera chip took a dive that day and is unrecoverable.

Spaghetti squash with fresh herbs and Gruyere

Poor spaghetti squash. It’s gone from being the “fun” squash that kids will (OK, might) actually eat because of its namesake-like appearance to being the misappropriated underpinning for pasta sauces consumed by the gluten-free or low-carb dieter. Having fallen into that latter category myself, I’d gone from liking spaghetti squash to resenting its existence. It’s not that it’s horrible with pasta sauces over the top; it’s just that it’s so not pasta and shouldn’t be pushed into service unless you’re truly desperate for some variety from zoodles. It falls into the category of “Well,I guess that wasn’t so bad,” which is just not the level of food to which to aspire.

Blessed with two spaghetti squashes we managed to save from our ravaging squirrels in the garden, I turned to this book that’s all about squash to see if I could redeem spaghetti squash back to its former golden roasted glory.

Fresh herb and Gruyere spaghetti squash saute

Adapted from “Smitten With Squash,” by Amanda Kay Paa.

Ingredients

1 spaghetti squash, halved and seeded

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

Kosher salt and black pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

¾ cup shredded Gruyere cheese

½ cups pine nuts

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush squash halves with ½ tablespoon or so of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake, cut side down, on a rimmed baking sheet for 25 minutes  or until tender. Let cool about 10 minutes, then use a fork to remove the flesh from the skin.

Toast pine nuts in a large saute pan. Remove and set aside. Heat remaining olive oil in the pan. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Stir in herbs, vinegar, squash, cheese and nuts. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.

Rating: Nice. Repeatable. What spaghetti squash was meant to be when it gets dressed up.

Quinoa salad with mango, cucumber and lemon shallot dressing

This weekend we took out most of the tomato plants and cucumbers that are done producing, I was left with one last lemon cucumber to use up. This dish was like one last blast of summer.

 

Quinoa salad with lemon shallot dressing

Adapted from the Oprah Magazine, August 2015

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa (multicolored helped with the prettiness factor)

¼ cup white balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Zest of one lemon, plus 2 tablespoons fresh juice

¼ cup chopped shallots

2 garlic cloves, minced

¼ cup olive oil

1 large orange

4 hearts of palm, thinly sliced (about half of a 8.8-ounce jar)

1 mango, peeled, pitted and chopped

½ cup cucumber, sliced into half moons

1/3 cup toasted pine nuts

Method

Prepare quinoa according to package directions. Fluff and let cool.

Combine vinegar, mustard, salt, black and cayenne peppers, lemon zest and juice, shallots and cloves. Whisk in olive oil.

Zest the orange. Peel and remove pith. Cut into chunks. In large bowl, combine cooled quinoa, orange and zest, hearts of palm, mango, cucumber and pine nuts. Toss together with dressing and serve.

Rating: Really nice flavors and good mix of colors and textures. The tropical notes smack of summer. It’s nice as is, but I might try it again and sub in water chestnuts for the hearts of palm for additional crunchy contrast. Definitely worth making again.

Note: Could be a decent meatless main dish if you added chickpeas. I added some grilled chicken to some of the leftovers to make a main dish lunch for Dave.