23 Sep Ham Pesto Pasta

Check out this great pasta recipe made with lots of fresh ingredients including local basil as well as garlic and pork from Bent Arrow Acres!

 

 

In addition to the animals and hoop house, we also maintain decent-sized garden just for our family.  It’s more of a “traditional” garden with a variety of plants.  The garden inspired the farm and is something that I really enjoy.

Except this year, it has taken a back seat.

It’s not been bad.  In fact, I had some of my best garden moments this year.  I grew my first watermelon and cantaloup and they were so incredibly delicious.  I finally grew cabbage that wasn’t annihilated by bugs.  We have a few cute pumpkins.  Green beans and tomatoes did well.

And, I thought my basil wasn’t in the worst shape so I bought all the ingredients to make and freeze pesto.  With the exception of garlic… we have a ton on the farm and it’s so good.  Especially for pesto.

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But, 24 hours later all I had was a skeleton of what used to be full basil plants.  I don’t know if it was a bug or a bunny, but it was all gone.  All of it.

So, while shopping on Market Wagon last week, I was excited to see that Falling Water’s Farm was selling basil… by the pound.  I figured a pound of basil would be a good amount, at least for the pesto that I wanted to make; but, I could have never imagined how much basil it really was.

It was a huge amount!  It was almost funny how much basil I had.

To process it all last week I had to run out and buy (three…) more containers of parmesan.

I froze the pesto in ice cube trays to have small servings for pasta and pizza this winter, but kept a bit in the refrigerator to use right away.

My mom used to always make a pesto pasta salad that was really basic, but so delicious.  So good in fact, that my little sister would- and still does- ask for it for her Birthday meal.  (She was a much easier and cheaper Birthday girl to please than me… I would ask for steak.)

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With the pasta and pesto, my mom would add any left over vegetables like carrots, peas, or tomato.  But, she also always included diced ham.

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I have found that the Bent Arrow ham steaks are great for this pasta.  They cook quickly in a skillet and then I just dice it.  Or, we like to cook one and serve it with eggs brunch so  I can use up whatever left overs we might have too.

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So, using some of my newly made pesto, using Indiana basil, I whipped up my mom’s old staple and we had a great meal.  Give it a try at your home!

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Ham Steaks and garlic are available at the farm, at the Downtown Kokomo Farmer’s Market and on MarketWagon.com.

Ham Pesto Pasta
 
Ingredients
  • Basil Pesto:
  • 2 cups basil
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • ¼ cup pine nuts
  • ⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ cup parmesan cheese
  • 2 cups cooked Spaghetti or Linguini pasta (Any pasta works, really)
  • ½ cup steamed, sliced carrots
  • ½ cup cooked peas
  • ½ cup diced cooked ham
  • 4 tablespoons pesto
Instructions
  1. Combine the basil, garlic, parmesan and pine nuts in a food processor until coarse and chopped. Add oil through the top while processing until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
  2. Prepare and combine all the pasta ingredients. Can be served warm or cold.

 

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