Deconstructed Bloody Mary Pasta: Farfalle with Celery Pesto, Tomatoes & Mozzarella
I have a lot of things to say about this pasta dish. I'll try to keep it brief, but here we go.
As I've mentioned in the past, I've become mildly-to-irrationally obsessed with using up random greens from vegetables. This doesn't seem like a bad thing and has resulted in many a good pesto (e.g., Radish Green, Chive & Parsley Pesto), but it starts to stress me out thinking about the fraction of a cent worth of greens that most people would've thrown out sitting in the refrigerator. They must be used.
I needed celery for the delicious buffalo chicken chili I made the other night and since I don't generally just eat celery unless I'm using it for cooking, I bought it by the pound at Lakewinds Co-op. Celery stalks are usually tied in their bunches and it seems like you have to buy the entire bunch. FALSE! If the price is by weight rather than per bunch, I just tear off as many stalks as I need, no more, and end up paying a fraction of the cost. Not only that, I don't end up with a bunch of limp celery in the back of my crisper drawer. That said, the crunchy Minnesota celery that I purchased also had a plethora of leafy greens atop their stalks, leaving me in an excess-vegetable-green predicament.
Celery always makes me think of a bloody mary, but obviously I wasn't going to throw a bunch of celery leaves into a bloody mary. I kept thinking along those lines though, noting the can of fire-roasted tomatoes I had in the pantry, also leftover from the chili. The wheels started turning and I came up with this deconstructed bloody mary pasta dish. My celery pesto would serve as the celery stick, mozzarella balls for the requisite cheese stick or cheese curds (I'm from Wisconsin, remember?), and while I opted for a vegeterian version, you could certainly throw in thinly sliced cured meats (spicy pepperoni would be a great stand-in for summer sausage). I left out the vodka, only because I didn't think of it at the time, but you could probably throw a few splashes of that in for good measure, as well. I did incorporate hot sauce and a healthy dose of Worcestershire sauce, though.
My husband was skeptical at first, and I have to admit, I was kind of expecting this dish to be a big dull dud (Friends line), but the flavor was awesome; a tad different than your typical Italian dish, and amazingly fresh tasting. It may be hard to believe, so you'll just have to try it for yourself. Plus, with Halloween right around the corner, this could be a clever play-on-words main dish for a ghoulish dinner party.
Deconstructed Bloody Mary Pasta: Farfalle with Celery Pesto, Tomatoes & Mozzarella
Serves: 2 (with leftovers)
Preparation Time: 25 minutes
For Celery Pesto:
2 c. loosely packed celery leaves, rinsed and thick stems removed
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 tsp. rice wine vinegar (or some other light vinegar like white wine vinegar)
1 tsp. honey
salt/pepper, to taste
1/4 c. olive oil
For Pasta:
1/2 lb. pasta (I used farfalle, or bowtie, pasta)
1 tbsp. olive oil
pepperoni, or other cured meat (optional)
1 15-oz. can fire roasted tomatoes (I used no salt added)
1/2 c. reserved pasta water
few splashes of your favorite hot sauce
few splashes of Worcestershire sauce
few splashes of vodka (optional)
salt/pepper, to taste
8 oz. ciliegine (cherry-sized mozzarella balls), drained
Method:
1. Make pesto by placing celery leaves, garlic cloves, vinegar, honey and salt/pepper into a small food processor. Process until leaves are well-chopped and uniform in size. Slowly add in olive oil through pour-spout. Process until somewhat smooth, adding in more oil/salt/pepper if desired. It doesn't need to be super smooth and oily, as it will adhere to the pasta better if it's somewhat sticky. The tomatoes and other ingredients will help form a nice sauce.
2. Cook pasta according to instructions on package, reserving pasta water. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large saute pan. If using pepperoni or some sort of cured meat, I would add it to the pan now and saute. Then, scoop cooked pasta into hot pan with oil (and meat, if using) and stir to coat. Add in pesto and stir again. Once the pasta is well-coated with pesto, add in can of tomatoes, pasta water, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce. If you're using vodka in the sauce, I would add it at this point. Stir well and let simmer for a few minutes until the sauce has reduced slightly.
3. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired, and add salt/pepper to taste, as well as more pasta water, if necessary. Add in mozzarella balls and stir. Let simmer for a few minutes more until the mozzarella balls have melted slightly.
