Food Thursday: 07.26.12

Okay.  A quick show of hands, please.  How many of you eat?  All of you?  Excellent.  You came to the right place.  Each Thursday it's all about the food.  Discussing the hot food topics of the day, restaurant strategies, or like today, recipes.  Today I bring you a lightened up remix of a dish that was served at my 40th birthday party many moons ago.  It comes in at around 100 calories per 1/2 cup serving, but tastes like you are being quite bad.  It's perfect for a summer BBQ or as a appetizer before a sit down meal.  It's Watermelon with Pesto and Feta.  Enjoy!

Watermelon with Pesto and Feta

Any of these ingredients don't really come to mind when you think about the others.  Seems odd, right?  The saltiness of the feta with the bright and garlicky notes from the pesto marry perfectly with the sweet, cold melon.  It is super easy and ready in minutes.  Let me know if you try this.  I'd love your feedback.  When I brought it to a friend's house this past weekend, the host went back for seconds.  I love that!  The pesto recipe makes 2X the amount you'll need so you can freeze it up to 3 months and add it to a marinara sauce as a flavor booster, use it in a balsamic vinaigrette or toss it with whole grain pasta.

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic
2 Tbs pignoli nut (feel free to sub walnuts or pecans)
2 cups, packed fresh basil leaves (washed and dried)
1/4 cup of grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1/4 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
4 cups of watermelon in 1" cubes
4 oz Fat Free Feta, crumbled

Method

1 ~ In a toaster oven set at 500 degrees, toast the nuts and garlic cloves for around 4 minutes or until the nuts are golden brown. They burn quickly, so watch them! You can also do this is a dry fry pan over medium high heat.

2 ~ Cool the nuts and garlic in the freezer for a few moments.  Hot pignoli and garlic with adversely affect the nice green basil.

3 ~ Once cool, place the first eight ingredients (garlic through black pepper) in a food processor and process into a nice puree. You may need to scrape the bowl of the food processor down to incorporate all ingredients.

4 ~ Just prior to serving, place your watermelon on a platter and sprinkle your feta over the top, getting good coverage.

5 ~ Drop small dollops of half the pesto over your platter.  Reserve the rest for another time.

6 ~ Devour.

Here is a tip.  Always store nuts in an airtight container either in the fridge or freezer for optimum lifespan and taste.

Cya Tomorrow,

M

What I ate today and how I exercised:

Breakfast ~ Mike McMuffin of 1 fried egg, 2 breakfast chicken sausage links on a multi-grain deli flat

Lunch ~ My easy brown rice jambalaya

Snack ~ Fat-free Greek yogurt w/vanilla and a ripe peach mixed in

Dinner ~ Panera "Pick Two" w/Lemon Chicken Orzo soup and 1/2 a smoked turkey sandwich

Exercise ~ none today