Homemade pesto is so good and so easy to make. Just pull out the food processor, load up the ingredients and in seconds a delicious pasta sauce is yours. You don’t need to spend $300 + on a fancy Cuisinart, I have a basic food processor (pictured here) that cost me about $35 several years ago and it works great. Hey, you can even make pesto in a blender if you have to.

The great thing about pesto is it can be utilized in so many ways. The obvious use is to toss it with pasta, but it also works great as a flavour kicker in tomato-based pasta sauces, scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes. salad dressings and marinades. A friend of mine even uses it as a sandwich spread!

There are 2 pesto recipes in ‘Fire Hall Cooking’ – an orthodox basil/parsley pesto and the featured non-traditional Tex-Mex Pesto. In the book you’ll also find recipes for Pesto Basa fish and Pesto Pizza - including a Greek variation. Since pesto has got a million and one uses, I always try to keep a batch of it made up in the fridge - stored in a sealed container with a dab of olive oil over the pesto so that it doesn’t turn brown. So now that you’ve heard the pep talk, get out there into that big bad cooking world and get pesto’d!

MEXICAN PESTO PASTA

Say what? Before you roll your eyes at me, try it. It goes great with ‘Tequila Lime Chicken’ or ‘Cuban Lime Pork Chops.’ Or, cut up some ‘Cuban Lime Chicken,’ (recipe to follow) and toss it in the pasta for a great main course.

FOR THE PESTO

• 1 cup cilantro - a.k.a. Mexican Parsley
• ½ cup fresh spinach
• 2 tablespoons lime juice – fresh is best
• 5 cloves garlic – smashed or chopped
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts - or almonds
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1/3 rd cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 rd cup parmesan cheese

FOR THE REST

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium red onion - cut in strips
• 1 medium red, yellow or orange pepper - cut in strips
• 200 grams of mushrooms – T'd up, not T'd off!
• ½ zucchini - coarsely chopped
• ½ pound (225 grams) Rotini pasta
• Tomatoes - optional

NO TIME FOR A SIESTA SENOR/SENIORITTA

• In a food processor toss in the cilantro, spinach, limejuice, garlic, pine nuts, salt, and pepper.
• Hit the power button and away you go. When it's combined, slowly pour in the olive oil as the machine runs. Fancy cooks with degrees from culinary institutes will try to impress you by calling this ‘emulsifying.'
• Now add the Parmesan for some parmesanification - Spell Check isn't very happy with that one, but the cooks all seem impressed.
• Stir fry the vegetables in 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium high heat until cooked through. Or, toss them in the olive oil and get them in a barbecue basket and roast them on the ‘Q.'
• Boil the pasta just the way - uh-huh, uh-huh - you like it. Hold onto about ¼ cup of the pasta water, you just might need it.
• Now all you have to do is combine the Pesto - at room temperature - with the pasta. You may want to add a bit of the pasta water just in case the pesto starts to clump. Toss it through, and add the fried vegetables.
• Yes, it's another one of those hybrid fusion dishes. What should we call it Mexalian, or Itexican?

FOR THE MARINADE

LET'S MARRY THE MARINADE AND THE CHICKEN