Hey Pesto!

There are just a couple of weeks left at the time of writing this, to send in your ideas for using pesto.

At Make it and Mend it we are big fans of pesto as it is so easy to get a jar out of the store cupboard and with just a couple of spoonfuls make some magical dishes.

The MIAMI team get together every two weeks. We rotate between each other's homes and last week we went to Hilary's place. She rustled us up a fantastic lunch and the piece de resistance was this delicious pastry tart that she reckons only took a few minutes to rustle up and 10 to 15 minutes in the oven.

All you need is some filo pastry (you can buy this frozen if you're not a pastry cook) to line a baking tray, spread some pesto on top, cover with some sliced tomato, peppers and goats' cheese, et voila' just top with a sprig of fresh basil to serve - delicious!

Send us your pesto tips and you could win a book of Sacla' pesto recipe cards (UK only)
This offer has now closed - we will shortly be publishing the recipes you sent us on our website

Can we pester you for your pesto ideas?

Don't you love pesto? It's so easy to make when the basil is in season, but the jars are also fantastic stock cupboard stalwarts. You can use pesto for lots more than making pasta al pesto.

The team at Make it and Mend it decided to celebrate the versatility of pesto by asking everyone to send in their favourite idea for using pesto. We've contacted the people at Sacla' and they've very kindly given us some nice pesto recipe cards and some recipe/ shopping list notebook and pen sets to give away to the first people to respond (UK addresses only I'm afraid) - all the details are on our website.

We plan to publish the recipes on the site when we have them all.


Meanwhile to get the ball rolling here are a couple of recipes sent to us from Lina, one of our readers in Milan Italy.

Pasta double sauce:
Prepare a simple tomato sauce with olive oil, an onion and fresh tomatoes (pomodorini) or peeled tomatoes, plus salt &pepper. Heat on the hob for about 20 minutes. When the pasta is cooked al dente add the tomato sauce and 2 small spoons of pesto

Lasagne with pesto (for 2 people)
Ingredients: 8 lasagne sheets (to make 3 layers), pesto (fresh basil leaves, garlic, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, pinenuts, salt, extra-virgin olive oil), besciamella sauce (white sauce: 25 g butter, 25 g flour, 250 ml milk, nutmeg), extra-virgin olive oil, salt. (If you like, you can add some ricotta cheese too)

1. Prepare besciamella with butter, flour and milk. Add a pinch of nutmeg powder at the end and stir well.
2. Prepare a good pesto (or get your jar ready).
   
3. Cook each lasagna sheet for 4-5 minutes .
4. Take a small oven tray, put some extra-virgin olive oil on the bottom and cover the surface with 2 lasagne sheets.
   
5. Put some pesto on it and then some besciamella sauce and sprinkle with grated Parmigiano.
   
6. Put other 2 lasagne sheets and pesto, besciamella and Parmigiano. Continue like this until you finish all the ingredients.
   
7. Put into oven and cook at 180 C for 20 minutes.

This feature has now closed - but we will be shortly publishing the recipes you sent on our website.