Black Olive and Sage pesto

This was a very spontaneous idea to make something quick and easy for dinner. And then there is this event going on, which came to my mind and doubled the fun factor to experiment. :)
And I was surprised at how good it turned out. Blogging surely gives these creative spurts to you...uhhh...me. :) So, what about you?


Black olive and Sage Pesto

Ingredients:
80-100 g stoned black olives
a handful of sage leaves, chopped coarsely (from the garden)
2 large garlic cloves, chopped coarsely
1/2 handful of walnuts (optional -I left them out)
1 dried red chili, broken into pieces, seeds removed*
2 tbsp lemon juice
30 ml olive oil (roughly)

Method:
Grind everything together with a hand stick blender and season with salt to taste.
Use it on Italian bread slices to bake in the oven for a few minutes
or
as a pesto for pasta dish, like we did here:Pasta with black olive pesto

Ingredients:
1/4 to 1/3 packet of pasta (penne, tagliatelle or others)
1 large red onion, halved and cut into thin slices or chopped into smaller pieces
1 large garlic, chopped finely or crushed with a garlic press
8 medium mushrooms, quartered
1/2 zucchini, cut into 5 mm rings and then each ring into 4 thin stripes
4 large dried red tomatoes (Italian)
1 /3 cup stoned black olives, halved
5-6 large sage leaves, chopped
4 tbsp black olive pesto (see above)
3 tbsp red pesto - I used store bought one this time
olive oil
salt to taste
Parmesan to garnish (optional)- I left it out

Method:

• Cook pasta till al dente with salt in enough water
• Fry the garlic and onion for a minute in olive oil on high heat
• reduce heat to medium high and add mushrooms and dried tomatoes, fry till done
• add zucchini and sage and fry till cooked but still crispy
• add the pesto and fry for short
• serve warm

*Remove the seeds of the chili to reduce the hotness, or use them along, and you can adjust the amount of chili to your taste

We enjoyed eating this pasta a lot. I was a bit irritated that I had not taken care and the pasta had turned a bit too soft. Sonny boy was driving me crazy at that time and I was so busy trying to calm down - myself............:D!
But, then I tried to wash it with cold water once and save the pasta and it was just about OK. Hubby liked it and said very sportively that it doesn't matter and sat down at the table with enthusiasm, but like usual mentioned at the end that he doesn't like black olives. He can alwaaaa...ays find something to complain about. Grrrrrrrr........!
I loved the combination of sage and black olives and I purposefully left out the walnuts which I could have added to it, as I did not want to mix up too many flavours. And I licked away all the left overs of the pesto with my fingers from the bowl I used to prepare it :). A wonderful taste as it was.
So, this ones goes to the event Food in Colours (FIC): Purple and Black held at Sunshinemom's Tongueticklers
And I would like to send this entry to Andrea's Grow Your Own being hosted this time by Rachel of The Crispy Cook, another gluten free food blogger, I'm happy to discover.

In case you are curious to know what I did with the beetle. No, I didn't grind the poor soul with the leaves, but let it fly away on my terrace. It had come along with the sage leaves I had brought from my garden. Now that winter is coming, I had to finally cut them up and use a part and freeze another larger part for later use.

When hubby cooks.....

....spaghetti with tomato sauce!
I had an appointment with the doctor for my son. It was late in the afternoon. Since hubby came home earlier than us, he started cooking his favorite dish which he is of the opinion nobody can cook better!
Since I don't exactly know the proportions, I 'll write down all that I could figure out while sneaking from behind and partly because he asked me for the ingredients ;-) !
Ingredients:

1/3 packet of whole wheat spaghetti noodles (1 packet=500 g)
1 tsp salt
water for cooking the noodles

Tomato Sauce:
olive oil, lots of it! (~3-4 tbsp)
1-2 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 large tomato, chopped finely
3 tbsp tomato paste
1/3 box Igloo frozen 8-Kräuter chopped herbs
1/4 box Igloo frozen chopped parsely
1 tbsp capers along with a few tsp brine
salt, to taste
a 1 inch (2-3 cm) piece of parmesan, grated

Method:

• Bring water to a boil and add salt and noodles. Stir in between. Cook till done (al denté, or as per taste). Pour out the water and wash them shortly with cold water and if the sauce is not already ready, add a little olive oil to coat the noodle with oil to prevent from sticking.
• Fry the garlic for short in olive oil and add the chopped tomatoes and stir
  
• add the tomato paste and stir. Cook till everything has become homogenous
• add the frozen herbs, the capers and salt to taste and stir
• Either mix the sauce with the noodle or serve separately garnished with grated parmesan, as per choice.
  

Since we have a 3 year old, who can make a big drama if he does not get to see the noodle pure, without anything, we always keep things, whenever possible, separate and mix in our own plates later!
The noodle were very well done. A quickfix which was also tasty! The only thing I missed was the pinch of sugar. They say here that tomatoes always need a pinch of sugar to enhance their taste, and I feel it is quite true.