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Twice the Pesto in a Single Bento
A jar of pesto is always a handy thing to keep in your fridge. This fragrant pasty sauce is delicious on anything—from pasta to crackers to rice. And because basil and olive oil is a welcome addition to a lot of food, it’s also excellent for cooking!
One of my favorite bottled pesto products is Gourmet’s Sundried Tomato Pesto. Setting you back by roughly PhP200, this excellent pesto offers a delightful marriage of basil and sundried tomatoes. It possesses the refreshing aroma of basil with a hint of the salty tang of sundried tomatoes.
My favorite way to enjoy this pesto is the simplest—over freshly cooked pasta. I find eating spaghetti a messy challenge at times so for bento, I usually get tri-colored fusilli for the attractive shape and colors. Plus, the best thing about this is that it’s great for speedy bento prep. Just boil water, dump your pasta in, take a shower and by the time you’re done, usually the pasta is, too. Toss with some pesto and instant meal!
Of course, I can’t live on pasta alone so this time, I experimented with pesto and ground chicken, creating pesto-laced chicken nuggets. It’s mostly a mix of ground chicken, pesto, salt and pepper. I like how it turned out, meaty chicken chunks with a hint of pesto, but it needs work so the recipe will come later. To round it out, I threw in some cherry tomatoes and a couple of fresh mint leaves to garnish.
Quick, hassle-free and delicious, as long as you have a reliable pesto recipe or a good quality bottled brand.
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I can’t wait for the pesto-laced chicken nuggets recipe!
Yeah, we always have a jar of pesto in our ref! But it’s always homemade by my brother
The pesto+meat nuggets sound yummy! (and looks really nice with the pasta, too)
@Mrs. G
Hope I pin it down soon. If you’d like to try experimenting yourself, what I have so far is 100 grams of chicken + a tablespoon of prepared pesto, salt and peper. I’m still tweaking but that’s what I’m working with currently.
@Sarah Cada
But your bro is chef extraordinaire! If I had one of those at home, I’d insist on homemade pesto as well. Unfortunately, it’s something I haven’t mastered myself and since I don’t have anyone to cook for me, store bought, it is
it’s always such a joy to visit your site. fab photos and great entries. rock on!
I love pesto with… rice.
I’m going to have to dry some sundried tomato pesto, I cant stand regular basil pesto because it gives me horrible heartburn >.<
I usually have a jar of alfredo in the fridge or the cabinet and it is great for a quick lunch or for a dipping sauce too!
I usually get the tri colored pastas too and sometimes I’ll pick one of the colors out if I’m trying to match soemthing in my box (especially the green ones)
I hope you get the chicken nuggets recipe worked out, it sounds really yummy!
ohhh i love pesto! i just bought a jar of malunggay pesto at the legazpi weekend market
@maver
Thanks so much! I’m very happy you’re liking it.
@toni
Heehee, I love pesto-laced rice too! Sarap <3
@Jaguarrior
Oh, this might not work then since it’s also basil-based. It’s simply laced with sundried pesto, but the base is still basil.
@fran
How do you like it? The malunggay pesto I mean. It sounds promising ha.
[...] rarity when it comes to this particular salad), I included some tri-colored fusilli slathered with Sun-dried Tomato Pesto, topped with a sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan and garnished with [...]