Straight From Giada

So I had this big, elaborate meal planned for Sunday but when I got back into my apartment at 9:30am, I decided that watching Food Inc. was more appealing than cooking. At 11:00am, I got slightly panicky because I didn’t have anything planned for the 1:30 lunch date so I browsed through my Giada cookbooks and came up with an easy meal.

I started with her white bean dip, which I believe Nicole has made before. I ACTUALLY followed the recipe so I’m not going to repost it on my blog.

I wasn’t really sure what cannellini beans were but here they are:

So big, round and smooth! Love it! I told myself that I would stop using canned beans because of the cost and the probability of something poisonous being in the can but I decided to take my chances because, again, I had no time to let beans soak, and I was afraid of repeating my last mishap with soaking beans especially since I had a guest!

And of course I used my mini-food processor which worked really really well for this recipe.

Very yummy, folks!

I also got this beautiful basil at the store (unfortunately, not the farmers market.) I love spring and summer because there’s so much at the farmers market but obviously not so in the fall/winter. Ah well…

I can’t wait until the day I have my own, homegrown basil. Remember my gift from Kate? Well, I planted the basil finally last week…

And I’m already seeing sprouts!!! So exciting!

Let’s hope I don’t kill it, which normally happens with plants and Shion.

I also grilled some red peppers. I wanted to roast them (or put them on my burner) but my stove in my new apartment isn’t conducive to putting a red pepper on top Sad, sad…

I grilled them until they were soft and malleable and then stuck it in a sandwich with homemade pesto, fresh mozzarella, and prociutto.

>

Perfect combination! Lacking in the veggie area, for sure, but that’s what Sundays are for!

The basil was a mix of: 3 cups of basil, 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. I forgot to put the parmesan cheese in it but I would have mixed about 2 Tablespoons of it in at the end. I don’t ever put pine nuts in my pesto because I seem to never have it and it still tasted great.

The only thing I would have changed was that I would have made sure the basil leaves were completely dry. I was a little impatient and in a rush so there was still a LOT of moisture on the leaves which made for a watery pesto but definitely still edible! Note to self – dry basil leaves before using.

All in all, it was a great menu and took less than an hour to prepare everything! I’ll say it again, but I can never go wrong with Giada recipes. If you’re also a Giada fan, I recommend checking out my friend Beth’s blog because she tries out a lot of her recipes!

Tags: basil, cannellini beans, Food Inc., Giada, prosciutto, red peppers, white bean dip