There’s Mint in My Box! (Pasta with Shrimp and Mint Pesto)

Spearmint, to be exact. I can’t help but feel that this is a sign of spring!

Aside from the mint, which I immediately made into the mint pesto detailed below, I also received:

• Gold Potatoes from Clarion River Organics
• Crimini Mushrooms from Wild Purveyors
• Brown Eggs from Butterbaugh Eggs
• A bag of mixed variety beets from Tuscarora Organic Growers Co-op
• A jar of chopped tomatoes from Penn’s Corner.

What am I going to  make with all this stuff? Oh I don’t know. I was thinking of making potato pancakes with the potatoes. Maybe a mushroom melt with the mushrooms. I’ll have to save that for a night when Matt isn’t around because he hates mushrooms. What a shame, I say. I absolutely love them! The beets. Hmm. I found this cool beet and cheddar tart recipe. And also, I have been wanting to try making pizza in a skillet. A while back, I saw this recipe from In Vegetables We Trust and it looks so cool! I’ve been super eager to try it out. Maybe I will make a beet and goat cheese pizza or something. The eggs I will most likely just eat for breakfast here and there. And I don’t really have plans for the chopped tomatoes. I’ll just keep them around until I think of something to do with them.

I also still have some of those purple carrots, a parsnip or two and like one turnip from some previous boxes. I’ll use them eventually. One nice thing about wintery produce is that it doesn’t go bad very quickly.

Pasta with Shrimp and Mint Pesto

I got this recipe from Martha Stewart and tweaked it a little. When I say it like that, doesn’t it sound like Martha herself personally gave it to me? Ha ha. That’s not exactly what happened. To tell the truth. If you check out the Martha Stewart version of the recipe, you should watch the video. Sarah Carey, an editor for Every Day Food is so hilarious. I love watching the videos just for that reason. And she makes some pretty cool food, too. Anyway, the mint pesto is pretty bangin!

Oh, I tagged this as vegan, and no, I’m not a dummy. I tagged it because the pesto is vegan. Which is pretty cool because it almost always has cheese in it.

Pesto

1 bunch parsley, large stems removed

1/2 bunch mint, stems removed

1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Other stuff

Coarse salt and ground pepper

3/4 pound whole wheat rotini

1 tbs olive oil

1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

Grated romano cheese, to serve

1. Make the pesto: Combine all ingredients in a food processor until smoooooooth.
2. Bring a large pot of water to boil, add the pasta and cook according to package directions. Drain it and reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water. (Confession: I almost always forget to save the pasta water.)
3. Meanwhile, heat 1 tbs of oil in a skillet over med high heat. Saute the shrimp until opaque.
4. Add about 1/2 cup of the pesto to the pasta. Mix well. Add a little pasta water to make it a bit more… I don’t know… Smooth? Creamy? Silky? It just makes it better. But only if you remember to do it.
5. Stir in the shrimp and serve!