On the Table: Mushroom Pesto

Pesto is one of my absolutely favorite summer dishes.  I picked up a bunch of basil the other day, planning to make some (gotta enjoy the end of summer while I can!), but as I got started I realized I had mushrooms in the fridge - and I got to thinking , why not use sauteed mushrooms in place of nuts in the pesto?  It was fabulous!  I made a lovely little garnish of fried basil to go atop the pasta, and it was delicious and super easy!  To prepare:

Prepare half a pound of pasta according to package directions (I used penne).

Clean and thinly slice 4-5 ounces of mushrooms.

Put a saute pan over medium heat.  Thinly coat the bottom of the pan with canola oil.  When the oil gets hot, add about half of the mushrooms to the pan (you want them to have plenty of room in the pan, so don't try to do too many at once!).

Season with some salt while the mushrooms are cooking.  When the mushrooms have browned on the bottom, flip them over and allow them to cook on the other side.

When the first batch of mushrooms is browned on both sides, cook the other batch.  When the mushrooms are done, put them into a food processor.

Grind 'em up, along with two small cloves of garlic.

Wash and dry a bunch of basil, remove the stems, and put the leaves into the food processor (save a few big leaves for frying).

Process them into the mushrooms.  With the food processor running, slowly stream in a good quality olive oil until you have reached the desired consistency.

Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl.  Grate in fresh parmesan cheese and stir well to incorporate (taste as you go to determine how much parmesan to add).  Add salt at the end, since the parmesan cheese will add a good amount of salt.

To prepare the garnish, put just a thin layer of canola oil in a pan and melt some butter into it (I used the same pan I used for the mushrooms).  When the oil gets nice and hot, gently slice the basil leaves into it.  The oil will bubble around the edges of the basil vigorously at first - when that slows down, flip over the basil and allow to cook for just another few seconds (the whole process is really fast). 

Transfer the leaves to a plate lined with a paper towel.

To serve, spoon the pesto on top of the pasta, and put the fried basil leaves on top of the sauce.

Enjoy!