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| an English pesto: parsley, walnut and Stilton |
So it was with some amusement that I discovered that Pantone, the Colour Matching people, had announced that in 2013, the Colour of the Year is Emerald Green - a harmonious colour, reflected all around us in nature. Blimey, I thought to myself. Fashionable, that's me all right, as I looked anew at my recently made parsley pesto with walnuts and stilton. Not only is it delicious, but with its vibrant green hue it could be a bit of a style icon too!
In medieval times, the colour green was associated with love and immorality, while today we see it as a badge of honour in protecting the environment. Green has to be one of my favourite colours as it speaks to me of history - the luxurious silks and velvets worn with sumptuous jewels by royal courtesans. (Of course, this is a colour which I like to wear since it goes with my hair, which is "fire red" - or that's what it says on the box!)
So while this pesto made with a huge bunch of flat leaf parsley from the garden, the nub of some leftover Christmas stilton and a handful of walnuts isn't particularly fashionable, luxurious or good for the environment, it is the most intensely green sauce I have made in a very long time. It was perfect spooned over a little penne pasta and certainly cheered me up on a grey drizzly day.
A recipe can be found for this in the incomparable Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's River Cottage Every Day or something very similar using an artisan cheddar in his column on The Guardian's website.
tips:
- Stir into soups such as pea and ham, celeriac, cauliflower or Jerusalem artichoke.
- A good accompaniment with gammon, grilled fish or as a coating for lamb chops or a rack of lamb.
- A dollop on crostini makes perfect party food.
And I am really looking forward to seeing all the other gorgeous herby entries!
9 comments:
This looks tasty.I love your use of the word "nub" in this and the jambalaya post -It´s such a good word.I think nub is going to become my buzz word for 2013.I matched a butternut squash soup to a paint chart last spring-its great fun co-ordinating your meals with your decor!!!!!!!-only joking
I'm glad you like it - it is one of my favourite words. It has a nice 17th century feel about it!
I'm wondering if I should set a challenge for food bloggers who like design - cook the pantone colour palette! (Or just the Dulex paint chart!)
I´m well up for that.
I have just spent the last 10 minutes on the Dulux Paint chart site http://www.dulux.co.uk/colours/index.jsp and chortling away to myself. So many of their paints have food-related names - paprika, nutmeg, lime zest, lemon chiffon . . . Volcanic Splash (a deep red) would be perfect for a chilli-tomato sauce. Not sure what to do with Green Parrot, but I am sure it's open to interpretation!
Sadly, food and paint don't seem to be a natural pairing . . . so it might be just you and me on this one . . . in my youth, I thought that the two best jobs in the world would either to be the headline writer on a tabloid or the person who comes up with the names for lipsticks . . . maybe it is time to colour match food - I need a change in direction!
Our landing is painted Flor de oregao.
The lovely pale lavender colour of the oregano flour.I am sure that would lend itself to somethin with this whole concept of food pairings.
Sounds beautiful!
Perhaps we are on the money - apparently a new bar has opened in San Francisco called Trick Dog that has a Pantone cocktail menu! http://www.thrillist.com/node/2988198/#slide=2
A STUNNING entry into Herbs on Saturday and I am a BIG lover and promoter of the humble parsley! Karen
Thank you kindly! Totally agree - parsley is so underrated - it is almost as if the British have thrown it over now that we can get our hands on sunnier herbs. Hmmmn - I have feel the need for a Sunday roast gammon with parsley sauce!
From one parsley sauce lover to another. We also think it is underrated, we like to splash it over our pie & Mash. A great combination that as proven itself year after year and still going strong.
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