Broccoli Raab Pesto

Broccoli Raab Pesto

About half a pound of broccoli raab greens
1/2 cup of pine nuts
Three medium cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup of water or lemon juice
Salt to taste

Blanch greens in boiling water for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and rinse in cold water. Reserve 1/4 cup of cooking liquid for use later in recipe, if desired. Drain and squeeze all excess water from greens and coarsely chop. Add greens, garlic, olive oil, nuts and water to Blendtec and pulse until well blended. It may take awhile to get completely mixed--when it looks well integrated and creamy, it is ready.

This experiment came about as a result of a great deal at the Farmer's Market that resulted in two gigantic bunches of broccoli raab, and a Christmas gift of pinenuts (I had let my family know there are certain kitchen items I consider somewhat of a luxury). The bunches were so big that I was having trouble fitting them in my crisper drawer, and the leaves were getting unhappy fast. So I chopped off the upper parts of both bunches, saving the lower stalks for another use (though a number of stems still made it in, and probably don't hurt), and put them to work in this recipe.

I was impressed by the bright color and thought it tasted great and not much different from basil pesto. So far we've used it on vegan pizza, and as a garnish on a blended white bean soup.

Prickly Pear Pear Smoothie

2 prickly pears, peeled and sliced (this is a helpful guide with nice pictures)
1 large Bartlett pear, quartered and seeded, then roughly chopped
2 medium carrots, trimmed and chopped
1 medium head of romaine lettuce, washed and torn or chopped into large pieces
about 1 cup of water

Add all ingredients to Blendtec, water last. Run on Whole Juice cycle twice (add ice cubes on the last cycle if you want ensure a perfectly cold drink) and serve.

One advantage to frequently perusing the Reduced for Quick Sale (RQS) Rack at Harris Teeter is that you often find things for very cheap that you might not normally buy -- in my case it's usually some interesting produce often associated with Mexican cuisine. I got a bag of prickly pears for dirt cheap and immediately thought of trying them in a smoothie (along with the extremely ripe marked down organic pears I also got from the rack).

Peeled prickly pears have a smell that reminds me of berries. They also contain numerous edible but not exactly chewable seeds which would probably be nearly impossible to remove. I found this ruby-colored green smoothie very tasty. I thought the prickly pear complemented the carrot, though the Bartlett did overpower a little and I could have added more lettuce, as it was very sweet.

P.S. The next day I made this again and added several more leaves of lettuce and more water, and it was even better.