Pesto for 2

Last night was my first attempt at making pesto. This was after I snubbed the store-bought kind this past weekend because I was oh-so-sure I could make it myself. I'm proud to say it was successful! I used almonds instead of pine nuts since that they were the only nut I have on hand. And I cut a recipe I had in half, since I was running out of parmesan cheese..there was just the two of us eating anyways. This recipe yielded enough for the both of us, and then some to spare.

Ingredients

• 25 almonds toasted in toaster-oven for 5-7 minutes (keep an eye on them, as they can burn in a blink of an eye!!). Let them cool for about 5 min.
• 1 cup fresh basil
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese

In a mini-chopper, or food processor, blend basil and garlic first. This is just to make sure that the garlic is well incorporated in the end. Add almonds, blend. Slowly, gradually add oil while blending (and this is why a food processor, which we don't have would work better than a chopper, so that you don't have to concentrate on both pressing the button and drizzling the oil through the chopper hole. Plus the mini-chopper holes are so small, oil was pouring off the sides and kind of annoying me!). Once oil is incorporated, you should find yourself with a nice, oily paste. Transfer to a small bowl, and mix in cheese. Tada, Pesto!

To add to pasta, save some of pasta water aside before draining (up to a cup). Add the pesto to the pasta, it will be too sticky to work with at first. Add a drizzle of pasta water to it. Do this gradually, until pesto is covering pasta. You don't have to use all the pasta water you saved. Just enough to help you cover the pasta! We added shrimp too. Hubby was impressed too! Only suggestion he made was to add a bit of lemon zest for tang. He may have a point..

Anyway, stay tuned for my attempt at making a "wedding cake" its for my parents' 30th anniversary. Its going to be a daunting task, since I will be making fondant for the first time. Yikes!! From what I've read on the internet so far, it doesn't sound like the easiest thing to do, and it may not come out. I may go to Chapters and take a look at Martha Stewart's wedding cake book, maybe she has some good suggestions?