I knew if I ate it that I’d leave my shift with undeniable garlic breath. The kind that even after you brush your teeth twice you still question…Are we okay? Is it good now?
That pesto that I was welcome to spread over a slice of bread during my break was bold, a little creamy and…crunchy.
My first real job, meaning not mowing lawns during summer for my brother’s landscaping company or helping my mom set up and take down wedding cakes on the weekends for her cake business, was at a bread bakery.
It began with after-school and Saturday shifts in high school. Then shifts worked around my classes when I started college at a university near my hometown. When I finally went away to finish up college, I still came back and worked holiday breaks.
It was all counter service at first. That evolved into becoming part of the kneading and bread prep team. Eventually, I became one of our main bakers for breads, and for pastries when I worked the 5 am to 1 pm shift.
I’d arrive while it was still dark out, but team members had already been there for hours, taking care of sponge and dough. If the scones had been scooped and cookies pressed, I’d fill my time preparing the spreads that were sold to accompany our freshly baked breads.
Things like honey butter, strawberry butter, and…pesto.
This was my very first introduction to pesto. I didn’t know what it was until we started selling it at the bakery. And all the ingredients we used were dry. Dried basil and dried minced garlic. Those ingredients would sit in the olive oil and form a paste with lots of texture and even a bit of crunch.
I was well through college before I learned that what we might consider a traditional Italian recipe for pesto was actually made with fresh basil. And even older before I learned pine nuts were a common ingredient.
I’ve never tried to re-create that dry ingredient pesto, but now that I’m telling you about it, I kind of want to. It was very good. And the basil never went bad on you in the fridge. But of course, there’s that garlic breath issue.
Since my time in the bakery, though, I have experimented with creating different pestos, switching up the green, the cheese, the nuts. I have one coming up in The California Farm Table Cookbook that I can’t wait to share next summer.
And I have this one for you today, used to dress lentils. It’s a super simple salad. Nothing fancy, but lots of flavor. You can cook your own lentils, but I find myself buying the pre-cooked option in the produce coolers at Trader Joe’s. They are nice to have on hand when I want to throw together something like this.
Also, I started using roasted garlic powder last year, and wow, I love it. You can find it online. Standard garlic powder will work or you can throw in a fresh peeled clove.
Lentils with Basil Asiago Pecan Pesto
About 4 servings as a meal
1 cup basil leaves, pack them in tight
½ cup roasted, salted pecan halves
¼ cup grated or finely shredded Asiago
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon roasted garlic powder
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 ½ cups cooked lentils, cooled
Add the basil, ¼ cup of the pecans, Asiago, salt, garlic powder, and pepper to a blender. Honestly, a small bullet blender works best but I haven’t been able to find mine since our move so I fought with my Vitamix for this one. It works fine you just have the scrape the sides a lot because it’s a small amount.
Anyway, pulse the ingredients to begin to chop them. Add a little of the olive oil if that helps to get things going. Then either pour in the rest of the olive oil and blend, or pour the oil through the open spout at the top with the blender on low. You’ll get pesto either way.
Let it blend until all ingredients are finely chopped and it resembles a dressing.
Pour the dressing over the cooled lentils and stir well. Break up the remaining pecans into small pieces, and stir them into the lentils. Enjoy at room temperature or chilled. I’d also never argue with pouring on more high-quality, peppery olive oil before you dig in.