Baking with the Boys

The barefoot bloggers are cooking and baking our way through Ina Garten’s repertoire.  We will be posting our results on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month.  Our first “official” challenge was Pasta, Pesto and Peas from Barefoot Contessa Parties!

Lesson #1: When you agree to blog about something you have cooked, write the blog somewhere in the time vicinity of when you prepared the dish.  There is that convenient “Save” v. “Publish” option. 

I really liked this dish but I made it almost two weeks ago.  In my addled mind, I have lost most of what I probably had to say about it.  I do recall, however, that I reduced the recipe by a 1/3 and it was still plenty to feed four (with leftovers). 

I also greatly reduced the “mayonnaise.”  We actually use Vegenaise instead.  I am not a big fan of mayo based dishes.  OK.  I take great pains to avoid them on most occasions.  I would eat this w/o the mayo at all but, if I am being truthful, the mayo did reduce the saltiness of the pesto and parmesan combo.  Also, spinach was at the farmers’ market so I couldn’t justify using frozen. 

I would absolutely make this dish again.  It is perfect for summer.  It doesn’t require a lot of cooking and it is served at room temperature.

Lesson #2:  Learn how to take better pictures!!  I didn’t get a lot of photos of this dish and none of them make it appear the least bit appetizing.  Good thing I am in no way financially dependent on my photography skills.

To see how everyone else fared checkout the “Whose Turn Is It?” on the Barefoot Bloggers page.