Pesto Dinner

Every now and then I get a craving for some good Italian food. I spent two years there and I still miss many of the tastes and smells that I encountered every day. Jessica is a willing partner most of the time, (since I'm doing the cooking) even though I often splurge for more pricey ingredients. Last week it was pasta arrabiata (angry pasta)...this week it was something else. She convinced me yesterday NOT to get the $12/lb. mozzarella di buffala imported from Naples at Costco, and instead we decided to buy some fresh basil, pecorino and parmigiano to make pesto. We even purchased a marble mortar and pestle to crush all the ingredients together.

You can see the wonderful color of the pesto. We also made fresh gnocchi-little potato dumplings. Simple and fresh.

I'm so excited!
I also made some fresh focaccia bread. When Mindi and Travis visited a few weeks ago I attempted and failed miserably. This recipe turned out much better despite me over cooking it just a bit.
I love this stuff! The color was amazing. I wish you could smell it.
This was me eating a pizza in Naples - something we did often in the city where pizza was born. Every time I make Italian food it brings me back to those experiences (Ignore the extra weight I seem to have added...this was taken over 5 and a half years ago). Now I just need to take my wife over there to experience some of the same things (mostly food related).