Pecan pesto, rapini with vin cotto

I am simply baffled by Pokémon. It has swept into our lives suddenly, furiously, and Jack is positively besotted. Oliver is not far behind. Cards and HPs and types and evolutions and powers...it seems Pokémon could be infinitely studied and played but I just don't get it. And the show is the worst. Just the absolute worst of anime. Naturally the boys beg to differ, but not since Bob the Builder have I felt a "passion" of theirs was so utterly vapid. Good for summertime I guess! In any case, dinner. In Wrightsville Beach a few weeks back, I bought some pecan oil brought up from Louisiana. Now, it is not lost on me that I've never bought pecan oil while at home, in Louisiana, but I saw it, was struck with a home-based yen, bought it and tonight made pecan pesto.

Pecan oil is exceedingly mild but it's a nice enough foundation if you also add actual pecans in some manner. I toasted a half cup of pecan halves, picked a mixed cup of basil and parsley from the yard, blended all that with some grated Parmesan, said pecan oil, some lemon, salt and a bit of garlic. These darling annelli, ring-shaped pasta I bought at Piazza in Easton back in May, paired wonderfully with the pesto; the sauce got caught up in the tiny rounds, like muck in your car hubcaps but good, which made each bite that much more intense. Nanny's favorite pasta was ditalini; annelli look like ditalini that have each been sliced in half.

Alongside, because I feel I've been terribly delinquent in the dinnertime veggie-making business as of late, I made my Rapini with Vin Cotto (you might recall it was featured on Food 52 as both a Community Pick and highlight of Weeknights with Jenny). It is so flipping good. The vague or overt bitterness of the greens (vague if you use broccolini but overt if you use rapini) is countered by the sweet tang of the vin cotto (cooked wine though I use balsamic vinegar instead of wine), and the little shocks of seared/charred/caramelized garlic are sublime.