- Pesto is so easy to make, adds such a punch of flavor, and is best friends with pasta, potatoes, and rice.

Today, we're going to devote a whole episode to pesto because it is so versatile.

You know the classic one starts with basil, but we're gonna show you some others.

Like my brown and wild rice bowl tossed with broccoli pesto and wild mushrooms.

My friend Giuseppe Fanelli is stopping by.

He's the chef of my favorite neighborhood Italian restaurant, and he's making a traditional basil pesto with green beans and potatoes.

It's an unbeatable combination.

I'll be answering your viewer questions about herbs on "Ask Sara."

Pesto is king today.

I'm Sara Moulton, welcome to "Sara's Weeknight Meals."

(piano music) - [Voiceover] Funding provided by.

- [Voiceover] Family-owned and Indiana grown, Maple Leaf Farms is a proud sponsor of "Sara's Weeknight Meals."

Providing a variety of duck products for home kitchens, Maple Leaf Farms duck helps inspire culinary adventures everywhere.

Maple Leaf Farms.

- [Voiceover] Subaru builds vehicles like the versatile Subaru Forester.

With symmetrical all-wheel drive, and plenty of cargo room.

The recipe made for whatever the day brings.

Subaru, a proud sponsor of "Sara's Weeknight Meals."

- [Voiceover] And thanks to the generous support of.

- [Sara] So how was the train ride?

- [Giuseppe] The train ride was quick, it was great.

- [Sara] Yeah, no big deal?

- [Giuseppe] No.

- So, I was picking some basils.

Sort of pathetic, I can see that you-- - [Giuseppe] I brought some, some goodies in here.

- I'll just add mine to your haunch, okay.

We're gonna go up here.

I put a pot of water on, 'cuz I thought maybe we're making some pasta?

- [Giuseppe] We'll make a nice pasta dish.

- Hi, I'm Sara Moulton.

Welcome to "Sara's Weeknight Meals."

The husband and I are always happy to discover great little restaurants in our neighborhood in Manhattan.

Right around the corner from us, we've come to love Tre Dici, a gem of a tiny little Italian restaurant with chef Giuseppe Fanelli.

And you're gonna cook with me and show me some home cooked dishes.

What are we making today?

- Today, we're gonna make pasta with pesto, alla genovese.

- I love pesto.

- [Giuseppe] With potatoes and green beans.

- We're putting potatoes and pasta in the same dish?

- This is going to be a one-pot dinner.

We're gonna put the potatoes, we're gonna put the green beans all in one pot.

When we pull it out, we're gonna finish it with the pesto, and that's it.

- Alright.

These are haricot vert, right?

The little green beans.

- So we're just gonna either pick or cut the stem part off.

I'm just gonna season the water with some Kosher salt.

First, you always want the water to be boiling, because the salt is gonna drop the heat down.

So, I would prolong the boiling time.

You wanna salt the water, just so that it gives the pasta flavor throughout.

- Okay.

So, I'm snipping these off.

Do you want me to cut them into pieces?

- Cut them into pieces, either halves or thirds, whichever.

You don't want them to be bigger than the pasta.

The pasta's about an inch, inch and a quarter.

- I see, ok got it.

That makes sense.

Why are we using haricot vert, these thin guys as opposed to the big ones?

- Because they're thin and the cooking time would go great with this pasta, as opposed to the thicker ones that would take longer to cook.

- So everything has to be done at the same time, because we're doing it all in one pot.

This is a classic recipe isn't it?

- This is a classic Genovese dish.

They were the ones that introduced pesto to the modern world.

- To the world?

- [Giuseppe] Yes.

- That was the best thing they ever did.

- So I'm just gonna peel this one potato.

I think this one potato should be good for this recipe.

- [Sara] What kind are we using?

- [Giuseppe] We're just using regular Idaho potatoes.

- They're very high in starch right?

- They're very high, yes.

- [Sara] Why do we like a potato that's high in starch for this recipe?

- Because they won't break down.

And they'll definitely maintain their bite, and they won't be soggy.

- Ok, I like that.

So, your mom was a very good cook, and she cooked every night?

- Every night.

- [Sara] And you sat down for family dinner?

- [Giuseppe] My father refused to go out to dinner.

- Refused?

- [Giuseppe] Refused.

Said, "There's no restaurant in the world "that could serve better food than "what your mother does."

- Well, your mother (laughs).

Not sure about everybody's mother.

On Sunday, I bet she made Sunday gravy.

- Sunday, every Sunday at 12 o'clock, we had to sit on the table.

- [Sara] What time did she get up and start cooking?

- [Giuseppe] Usually around six in the morning.

- (exhales) So this goes in, the pasta's in, did you stir it or anything?

- I stirred it, give it another stir, and then we'll put the top back on for it to-- - [Sara] So this goes how many minutes before we add the green beans?

- [Giuseppe] I would do another six more minutes.

- Ok. Alright.

So, you want me to pick some basil here?

- It's already pre-washed.

- Oh, I love the smell.

This is like essence of summer.

And I even like it in the middle of winter, it makes me happy.

- My dad has a little secret stash in his garden where he keeps it covered.

It's almost like his own little greenhouse that he keeps basil and parsley all year long.

- Wow, but he shares, I assume?

- [Giuseppe] It's only for us.

- For your family.

Ooh wow.

- While you're doing that, I'm gonna grate some of this Parmesan cheese.

Let's just give the... now so we gotta, we have to put the pine nuts on - [Sara] Pine nuts on, right.

- We're gonna put the heat on low because you want the pine nuts to cook evenly.

- [Sara] And you like the Italian ones?

- [Giuseppe] Yes.

- [Sara] I'm not surprised (laughs).

- [Giuseppe] That looks great.

- I feel like I'm swimming in basil.

- Well that will all disappear in two seconds.

- [Sara] Two seconds.

And then I need to mince, how much garlic do we need?

- I would say about two cloves.

- Okay we don't want it to be too strong.

(gentle music) I knew the different pasta shapes have different uses in Italian cooking, right?

So, what kind of sauce is gemelli usually used for?

- It's good with tomato sauce.

Because of the twists, it holds the-- - It catches the sauce is the idea.

(gentle music) Okay, is this good enough?

- Yeah that's great.

- So this goes in with all this basil?

- Yep.

- Wow, I'm a happy camper.

I wish my daughter was here.

She lives for pesto.

You know, she's a regular in your restaurant too.

- She comes in all the time?

- She comes into the bar sometimes.

Of course, she's old enough to come into the bar sometimes.

And our pine nuts are toasting, here goes the garlic.

- I should have get your "doohickey."

- Oh, it's in the drawer isn't it?

Or did I take it away?

You calling it "doohickey" too?

You learned that word from me.

That's my aunt Alice's word.

When she doesn't know what it's called, she just calls it a doohickey, yeah.

- [Giuseppe] A thing-a-mabob?

- Alright, so we're just missing the pine nuts then.

Just wanna get them a little golden.

Could you do that in the oven too?

- It would be better if you do it in the oven, so you don't have to really think about it, at a low temperature.

- [Sara] Right.

- And just set the timer for ten minutes or so.

- I didn't ask the obvious.

We're toasting them because?

- We're bringing out the oils and the flavor.

- Yeah you should, that's a smell.

Oh, I just love this with the basil and the pesto, good.

(food processor whirring) - [Sara] How do you know when it's ready?

- It'll say, "I'm ready."

Right now, it's at a paste.

When it starts loosening up, and then it's ready to come off.

- [Sara] Ready?

- [Giuseppe] Yep, it's ready.

- So it told you it was ready?

- It said, "We're done."

Just gonna do one more, we just have to, we didn't season it.

- Oh, duh.

So you add salt as well as the Parmesean?

It needs it.

Do you want some pepper too?

- [Giuseppe] And some pepper.

And that's it.

- You don't measure anything, do you?

- No.

- [Sara] Never?

- It's gonna taste good, I promise you.

- (laughs) Okay.

I'm trusting, I'm trusting.

- Alright, one last.

And that's it.

- Should we taste it?

Or do we need to move on to the pasta?

- Go ahead, you taste it.

Tell me what you think.

- You're not gonna taste it, you just know?

- I just know.

- [Sara] You're just sure.

Ok, we'll see.

Oh my God.

Wow.

- [Giuseppe] It's simple.

- There is just nothing better than when it's fresh made.

- Absolutely.

- [Sara] Yikes.

Alright, so now we need to get this puppy organized.

Do you want me to do something with the tomatoes while you're draining the pasta?

- Yeah, any way you want to slice them.

- [Sara] You want them sliced, or cut into quarters?

- [Giuseppe] Quarters.

- [Sara] These are beautiful tomatoes.

- [Giuseppe] Those are a variety of heirlooms, they look like.

Alright.

- I'm gonna get my doohickey and bring these all down there.

Oh my God-- - So, I'm just gonna take the pesto and I'm gonna dump it in the pasta.

- [Sara] Are we gonna use all of it or some of it?

- I think we're gonna use all of it.

- I get happier by the second.

Oh boy.

- I'm just gonna add a little bit more olive oil, just so the pasta and the potatoes don't stick.

And then we're just gonna toss it.

- You Italians eat a lot of olive oil.

Look at your girlish figure, you're doing just fine.

- It's hot in the kitchen.

- (laughs) Okay.

You just sweat it away, huh?

Alright, I'm gonna get us a fork.

We gotta try this.

How many people would this feed?

- [Giuseppe] This will go between four and six, depending on how hungry you are.

- Four and six, wow!

Mmm!

Oh!

My God, that was one of the best things I've ever eaten.

- Simplicity at its best.

- Oh my God, this is the best family meal.

And how do we put the tomatoes on?

- Just tomatoes, we just throw them on top-- - [Sara] Ready?

Just do it?

- [Giuseppe] Yep.

- Whoop!

This is rustic, this is my favorite kind of food.

We made that in no time at all.

- [Giuseppe] No time at all.

- Pasta with pesto, string beans and potatoes, a perfectly prepared one-pot meal.

Thank you.

(upbeat music) I get many questions on my website, saramoulton.com and I love answering them.

So today, we're gonna answer a few on the show.

I have the Holmes family from Trumbull, Connecticut right here, via video chat.

Let's say hi first, hi!

- [Boys] Hi.

- [Sara] How are you guys doing?

- [Boys] Good.

- [Woman] Great.

- So, I understand you have a question for me?

- We do.

We would love to learn more about planting our own herb garden, especially if we could plant one that would bloom and last all year.

- Wow, okay.

Well, first of all, I understand you guys cook, is that right?

- [Boys] Yeah.

- [Sara] So, what do you like to make?

- I love to make tacos with mom because tacos are my favorite.

- And you Andrew?

- I like to cook steak.

- Wow, very manly!

Alright, well let me just share this tip with you about herbs, okay?

Take a look.

Herbs are so easy to grow inside.

They just need light and water.

Humidity keeps plants moist and succulent.

So, if you live in a place that's, the air is very dry, here's what you do.

Take a shallow tray, fill it with stones and then cover the stones with water.

And then, just put the herbs right on top.

This will create the moist environment that they need.

Now, don't mist your herbs, because that encourages fungus disease.

And, do use a fertilizer every so often, a natural one or even a fish-based one.

Alright, so what did you think?

- [Andrew] I loved it.

- [Boy] I really liked it.

- I think it's great.

And we can keep it right in our window sill all year long.

- Yeah, that's what's really nice about it.

So you just wander over and take what you want.

That way, you don't have to store the herbs and have them go bad, 'cause they'll just keep growing.

Well thank you, very good questions.

- Thank you.

- Thanks.

- Thank you.

- [Sara] Bye guys.

- [All] Bye.

- Okay, so now I'm gonna be talking to Brent from Dallas.

Hey Brent, how are you?

- Hi Sara.

I'm doing well, you?

- Great, I understand you're a lawyer and you work at home?

- I have a home office, but I work out of it most of the time.

- That's great, you like to cook?

- [Brent] I do.

- What kind of things do you make?

- Love grilling steaks, cooking barbecue, cook some Tex-Mex food occasionally and try to get into Cajun food.

Learning about it.

- Tell me, what is your question?

- Whenever I cook, herbs are usually an afterthought, kind of something I throw on at the end.

I generally just take a knife to them and chop them up.

I was wondering if there's any special way or anything I could be doing to taste as good as possible?

- That's a good point because fresh herbs are a great garnish for meat, you know, like you grill a steak and you combine the herbs with the oil and throw it on top.

It just makes it really fresh and delicious.

So, I have a little information I'm going to share with you.

Just watch this little clip.

- Okay.

- Here are a few tips about working with herbs.

First of all, there's two main, vague categories.

One is, the soft herbs, with a soft stem, such as basil, parsley, cilantro, chives.

What you do, is you take the leaves and you line them up, you stack them like a deck of cards, and then, you roll up them tightly like a cigar.

And then with a very sharp knife, you just quickly slice them, try to make your slices as thin as possible.

If I just chopped away at this, any soft, big leafed herb, it becomes bruised and wet, and brown.

Okay, now, for the woody herbs, like rosemary and thyme, you can just chop.

How do you cook with these herbs?

There are some foods that play so nicely with each one of them.

Basil goes with any vegetable, especially tomatoes.

Rosemary goes with chicken, lamb, pork, and vegetables like eggplant and peppers.

Thyme tastes great with mushrooms, poultry, eggs, fish and stews, just about anything.

Oregano is a classic ingredient in spaghetti sauce.

It's also found in a lot of barbecue rubs for beef and chicken.

Sage marries well with beans, pasta, poultry, and especially, Thanksgiving turkey stuffing.

So, what did you think, was that a little helpful?

- Yeah, it was great.

- Good.

Herbs are so much fun to play with.

It's a great thing to have in house.

Thank you for asking your question.

That was a great question and keep up the good cooking and I hope you have more fun with herbs.

Thanks Brent.

- Thank you.

(upbeat music) - Okay, on to my brown rice and wild rice bowl.

with broccoli pesto and wild mushrooms.

I'm gonna start with the wild rice, and what we're gonna do is a ratio of one part of wild rice to two parts of brown rice.

Just as a nice mix.

You can actually get the rice already as a blend, but if you don't find it that way, you can start with this ratio.

I've got one and three quarters cup of vegetable broth boiling, because this is going to be vegetarian.

I'm gonna get my rice, my wild rice, going first because it takes just a little bit longer.

We're gonna give it about five minutes before I add the brown rice.

Wild rice is actually not a grain, it's a grass.

It's native to the Great Lakes, both Canada, and then Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Let's get going with the broccoli pesto.

As you know, because we just did it with Giuseppe, the traditional one has all those wonderful Italian ingredients.

We love it.

But, we're gonna take a few liberties and mix it up.

So, let me get the nut element first.

We've got some toasted almonds.

We put them in a 350 oven for about seven minutes, until they smell nice.

Nuts will talk to you, when they're done, they're done.

You can smell them.

And we're gonna go in here with these.

And then, we're gonna add our broccoli.

That's gonna be our green element.

This is good because broccoli is so nutritious, it's high in fiber, and this is a great way to use the whole thing.

You start with six ounces, ends up being about two cups.

That is all gonna go in there.

This adds a nice, robust flavor.

By the way, if you wanted to, this is regular broccoli, you could use broccoli rabe, which I just love.

It's got a slightly bitter taste.

Two scallions.

There aren't usually onions in pesto, but we like the little bite that they give you.

We want about a quarter of a cup, so I'm gonna go all the way down the green.

This is something you could make on a weekend.

We're only gonna use half of the pesto, and then you can freeze the other half.

Just pause for half a second, we're gonna add two thirds of a cup of brown rice, so it's two to one.

Let's see if I can measure this a little better.

And then we're gonna put on our paper towel, which I like to do when I'm cooking rice.

It sort of keeps all the moisture in.

I'll give it one quick stir.

Brown rice is whole grain rice.

The germ has not been removed, and it's nuttier, it's chewier, it's healthier.

I just really like it.

But, you can mix up any rices for this dish.

So, now here we have two garlic cloves.

You just wanna whack them.

Now, cheese.

I love Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Just a note about it, when you go to buy it, make sure you get it with the label on that says Parmigiano-Reggiano.

That's how you know you're getting the real McCoy.

From Italy, that's been aged and raised properly.

That's the only real Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Just a note about grating, if all you have is a four-sided grater, you probably would use this side.

If you grate it on this side, understand that it's not the same volume as when you grate it on a microplane, which is my preferred tool.

Microplane just fluffs it up.

One ounce of cheese, and I need two ounces for this recipe, but one ounce of cheese grated on a microplane, yields about a heaping half a cup.

In a four-sided grater, it's more like slightly less than a third of a cup.

Same ounce, but different volume.

I no longer trust recipes that say, "Half a cup, a third a cup, a quarter of a cup" because was it grated on a four-sided grater?

Or on a microplane?

But see how light and fluffy it is.

It's just a totally different texture.

It's not as packed as the other grater.

I think that's right.

I'm gonna put this in and then grate a tiny bit more because I wanna save some for the top later on.

Because we've got the cheese in there, I'm not gonna add a lot of salt.

Just a tiny pinch, and some pepper.

Because I'm obsessed with all things hot, I might also add some hot pepper flakes.

But you don't have to do that.

Let me get this started, and then I'm gonna add our olive oil.

We're gonna add, and use the good stuff, this is one of those times you wanna use the extra virgin olive oil.

The stuff you spent money on.

About five tablespoons, let's start with five, we'll see what it looks like.

You need enough in there to make the whole thing sort of become a nice puree.

There we go.

Look at that beautiful color, huh?

Coming down, I'm gonna talk about mushrooms.

We've got an assortment here.

I'm gonna just start working on them.

These are Shiitakes.

These are Oyster.

These are Crimini.

Crimini are baby Portobellos.

When this grows up, it becomes a Portobello.

These are a selection of Enokidake, which are these fun little mushrooms.

We need about five ounces.

I'm gonna keep them all, and these are exotic mushrooms.

Most mushrooms these days are cultivated.

There's not that many wild mushrooms.

Look at that, doesn't that look like the gang there?

I'm gonna save some of these for my garnish afterwards.

Let me get my pan going while I slice the rest of these.

And again, we're going with olive oil.

My favorite way to wash mushrooms is just to fill up a bowl of water, put them in, go "womp womp womp," and get them out.

I find that's the quickest way to do it.

When you're working with Shiitakes, the stem on Shiitakes is too tough to eat straight up.

I wouldn't add it, it's just really really tough.

Save these to infuse stocks and soups.

What these mushrooms are gonna do for the recipe, is they are gonna add a real depth of flavor.

That umami, that fifth taste you're really looking for, that makes you feel satisfied.

I'm gonna just slice them.

You could cut them into pieces too, it's sort of up to you.

Doesn't really matter.

If they're sliced, they'll cook a little faster, but we're not in a rush.

The rice, after all, takes 45 minutes.

What's interesting about rice, for half the world's population, it's a staple.

What's so great about it, is it's so versatile, it's a great backdrop for dishes and it also picks up the flavor.

Just trimming off the bottom of the Oyster.

What a nice assortment we have.

Let me get my favorite thing.

Into the pan.

These only take a few minutes.

Again, we're gonna season them, don't wait till the end.

What I'm looking for, is the mushrooms are gonna give off a lot of liquid.

I want to get them a little bit brown around the edges, and then when that happens, we'll be good to go with the mushrooms.

Meanwhile, the rice is gonna take a little while longer.

I've got my pesto done.

I'm gonna just go down and grate a little more cheese while these mushrooms cook.

(upbeat music) Let's take a look.

Ooh, that looks wonderful.

It absorbs all of the liquid, most of the liquid.

We're just gonna fluff it up.

What a beautiful color with the combination.

My mushrooms look ready.

I'm just gonna put the whole thing together, let me take out a few cute little mushrooms for garnish.

Let's take some of these Enoki guys.

Now, I'm gonna put, combine everything in here.

So, in goes the rice.

We're only gonna add about half of the pesto because that's all we need.

The rest freezes beautifully for a future dish.

You can add it to pasta.

You can just put it on top of a grilled item, on top of vegetables.

You could add it to a soup, just stirred in.

Think how delicious that would be.

Let me add my extra liquid.

Pesto is really great for vegetarian dishes.

Instead of always thinking about animal protein as being the base of a meal, start with a grain like rice as the base of your dish.

Certainly we all love risotto, we all love pasta dishes, why not?

This is for four people, it's very hearty, because the grains are very hearty, and so is the broccoli and the mushrooms.

I see this as a main course with maybe a salad on the side, some crusty bread, and then, you're good to go, there's dinner.

Yum.

Let me get my dish.

And my little mushroom garnish.

I'm gonna head out and have my lunch.

I hope I've convinced you that pesto is a great addition to any weeknight meal.

Thanks for joining me today, I'm Sara Moulton.

I hope to see you next time for more of "Sara's Weeknight Meals."

(upbeat music) - [Voiceover] "Sara's Weeknight Meals" continues online, for recipes, helpful tips, messages and lots more, visit us on the web at saramoulton.com/weeknightMeals.

And go to our Youtube channel, "Sara's Weeknight Meals TV."

Funding provided by.

- [Voiceover] Family-owned and Indiana grown, Maple Leaf Farms is a proud sponsor of "Sara's Weeknight Meals."

Providing a variety of duck products for home kitchens, Maple Leaf Farms duck helps inspire culinary adventures everywhere.

Maple Leaf Farms.

- [Voiceover] Subaru builds vehicles like the versatile Subaru Forester.

With symmetrical all-wheel drive and plenty of cargo room.

The recipe made for whatever the day brings.

Subaru, a proud sponsor of "Sara's Weeknight Meals."

- [Voiceover] And thanks to the generous support of.

(light piano music) (gentle music) (light guitar music)