4 each fresh beets with greens
1/2 tsp salt
1 each red onion, chopped
1 each hot banana pepper, chopped
2 each garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup walnuts, toasted
1 black pepper
Directions
Trim & wash beets. Leave 1" stem, steam till tender. When beets are
cooked, slip skins off under cool water & set aside. Remove leaves
from stems & discard stems. Wash & dry leaves, chop coarsely. In a
skillet, cook onions, banana pepper & garlic in 1/3 c olive oil till
softened. Add beet greens & cook 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a
processor & puree with the cooked beets, cut into quarters. Add rest
of ingredients & puree again, adding more olive oil if necessary. The
pesto keeps refrigerated for 2 weeks or freezes. You can add parmesan
cheese if you wish.
"The Hamilton Spectator", Spetember 15, 1993.
Servings: 4 servings
Beet Pesto Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Italian; Sauce; Vegetable
The History of Recipes
It is quite possible to follow the history of recipes far back into distant history, at least as far back into recorded history as the ancient Egyptians, and potentially, even further back. Having said that, in the main part, these old recipes were just simple pictorial instructions for meal preparation.
Fascinatingly, the most ancient recipe discovered so far, according to food historians is a collection of ancient tablets in the Sumerian language which describe the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made those who drank it feel `exhilarated, wonderful and blissful`. During the time of the Roman Empire a roman called Apicius wrote a number of scripts showing how to cook the recipes enjoyed by his fellow Romans. He describes how the meals were divided into hors d`oeuvres, main meal and desserts, something that is very familiar to us today. Aspicius also tells us how the chefs of Roman times made use of a wide range of spices and herbs, including many that are still in use today like bay, mint and parsley. As our culinary historical trip moves on a few more years we find some books from the 14th Century : a cookery book entitled `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary called `Curye on Inglish`. The titles are a little misleading though, these books have no connection with the spicy food that appears on menues today, but instead accounts of the types of meals cooked for the rich people of those days. In the fifteenth century, people returning from the crusades brought back a variety of foods, spices and herbs from Arab cuisine, such as coriander, parsley, basil and rosemary. The introduction of these new tastes caused an explosion in books on cooking, some of which are kept safe in private cookery archives. By the arrival of the 20th century, cook books are greatly in demand due to higher levels of literacy, people having more free time and having more money to spend. Like it or not, the introduction of television gave us TV chefs and the spin-off recipe books. Which pretty much brings us to the present day and the invention of computers and the internet, allowing everyone to search through massive numbers of recipes just like those on this site. |
We hope you enjoy this Beet Pesto recipe.
