Green Bean Pesto...

Or "How to Get Rid of Produce"

I had some slightly sad green beans (off-season...what did I expect), some slightly sad cilantro, and a slightly sad lemon. What to do...


Ingredients:
1 quart green beans, washed and snapped
3-4 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup yogurt (or sour cream, or ricotta, or some other tasty dairy product)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
dash ginger
1 lb pasta
2 bullion cubes

Put the water on for your pasta with the bullion cubes. Over medium heat, saute garlic and cilantro in olive oil with the salt and pepper. Typically I wouldn't cook the cilantro, but in this case I had to cook out the sad.


Add the green beans and cook until they have turned a darker green and are a nice al dente. I am fairly sure that overcooking would lead to a kind of icky pesto. Allow them to cool a little bit before you stick them in your food processor/blender/what have you. By this time, your water should be bubbling away; cook the pasta al dente.


Pulse the green beans and other remaining ingredients until the mixture reaches the consistency of coarse polenta/grits (depending on how Italian/Southern you are!)


Add about 1/3 of a cup of the pasta water and a dash of ginger and whirl again to combine. Stir it into the pasta and serve with a handful of parmesan or a dollop of yogurt. So very tasty!