Pesto Cream Sauce (Fresh Ravioli's New BFF)

I know I usually start many of my posts explaining how simple a recipe is. Well...guess what? This is another ridiculously easy recipe. In fact, I've written this recipe with two different methods: The first is my favorite; straight up heating all the ingredients until thick. The second is the bechamel method. It's a little more advanced, but this method is lower in fat, and is very handy for those times you don't have heavy cream on hand. Heck....there's technically a third method of heating half and half until thickened, but I personally prefer cutting heavy cream myself. (...Call it a minor control issue....)

Huge suggestion: Find yourself some sundried tomato pesto. It's awesome. Or just add sundried tomatoes or whatever other add-in you want to the sauce. And if you're using fresh ravioli with this sauce,  you can go ahead and heat the ravioli in the sauce as it thickens; just be sure to stir occasionally so that the pasta doesn't stick to the bottom of the skillet.

As a side note, I did not add "Prep Time" or "Total Time" indications, since prep time would basically be about a minute or two for mise en place (putting things in place). 

Backstory: This is one of those recipes that came in the form of a cartoon-y light bulb above my head while browsing a menu at a local pizza restaurant; "a four cheese tortellini in a creamy pesto sauce". I thought of the refrigerated ravioli in the fridge and the unopened bottle of sundried tomato pesto in the cupboard just begging to be used. I knew instantly I would try making a "creamy pesto sauce" for dinner; alas, I had a harder time figuring out what to order for lunch!

Pesto Cream Sauce

Cook: 5-8 minutes Makes: about 2 1/2 cups

Equipment:
large skillet

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream ½ cup milk, plus more as needed 3 Tbsp pesto

Method:

1. Pour ingredients into a large skillet. On medium heat, cook heavy cream, milk, and pesto in a large skillet, stirring occasionally until sauce is thickened. If needed, add more milk to thin sauce, or more heavy cream to thicken sauce. Serve with pasta or other desired dish.

Pesto Cream Sauce made with Sundried Tomato Pesto

Creamy Pesto Sauce  
Cook: 5 minutes Makes: About 1 1/2 cups

Equipment:
small pot or skillet, whisk
 

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp	butter
2 Tbsp	flour
1 ½  cups	milk
3 Tbsp	pesto

Method:

1. Melt butter in a small pot or skillet on medium heat.

2. Once butter is completely melted, whisk in flour until well combined. (As in, flour has absorbed all the butter, in a matter of 5-10 seconds.)

3. Pour in milk all at once. Briskly whisk mixture until smooth. Keeping the heat level at medium, allow mixture to cook until thickened. Once thickened, turn off heat and stir in pesto until well combined. If sauce is too thick, stir in more milk. If sauce is too thin, allow sauce to simmer a few minutes or as needed. Serve finished sauce immediately with pasta or other desired dish.

Miso Soup with Shitake and Spinach (Made with Paste, Not Packets)

Miso Soup ordered from a Japanese Restaurant menu generally has bonito (fish) flakes, seaweed, tofu, green onion, and sometimes, shiitake mushrooms. However, the soup does not have to have all those ingredients to make it a savory, salty, palate-pleasing soup. The following recipe only uses three ingredients; only TWO of which are from the Asian market, and involves very little prep time. Packets of dry miso soup mix take even less time to prepare, but tend to have MSG, more sodium, and can get expensive.

Red miso paste and dried shiitake can generally be found at your local Asian market. Some specialty stores may also carry these items. If you absolutely love miso soup, the purchase of red miso paste is worth every penny; one pouch is enough to make several pots of this 15-minute soup. If red miso is not available, brown can also be used. Shiitake is not crucial to the soup, but it adds a wonderful earthy flavor to the dish. Either fresh or frozen spinach can be used in this particular recipe. I used frozen spinach  in this dish, as I find this freezer-section veg to be more convenient and usually cheaper than it's produce department counterpart.

Miso Soup with Shitake and Spinach

Yeilds: 2 Servings

Ingredients:

2 cups	Water
2 Tbsp	Red Miso Paste
1/2 cup	Dried Shitake Mushroom
1/2 cup	Spinach

Method:

1. Fill a small pot with the water, and add the dried mushrooms. Bring to a boil.

2. When water comes to a full boil, quickly turn heat to medium, and add the spinach. Cook for 3 minutes.

3. Reduce heat to medium-low. In a small bowl, dissolve the miso in a small amount of the broth. 

Da Paste

Dissolved Paste

4. Add dissolved miso paste to the broth, then serve.

Tips:
1. If concerned about salt intake, decrease miso paste to 1 Tbsp. Or, only consume a cup instead of a full bowl, which would be around 333mg of sodium.
2. If concerned about alcohol content (there is a very small amount) decrease to 1 Tbsp, and add fish sauce, bonito flakes, or nori if salt is still desired.
3. Bonito flakes should really be used to make this recipe more authentic, as bonito flakes are traditionally used to make the broth. In this recipe, shitake is used to make a mushroom broth. If you're up for buying more at the Asian market, I suggest buying the bonito flakes, which can also be used later in seafood soups.
4. To make this a more filling soup, try boiling frozen dumplings in the soup after step 1, but before adding the spinach. Or, cube silken tofu and add after step 2, but before adding the paste.  

Nutrition Facts (Per Serving):

Calories: 53, Carbs:7, Fat: 1, Protein:3, Sodium: 831