Umeboshi and Shiso Pesto

I love umeboshi.

Umeboshi is a Japanese pickled plum.

It's salty and sour.

Umeboshi gets its flavor from shiso leaves.


So I get to thinking...

Why not combine the two and make pesto?

The umeboshi gives the pesto a saltiness--I liken it to caesar salad with anchovies in it or adding capers to pasta sauce.

But it doesn't overpower the fresh shiso.

Just adds another layer of flavor.

Ingredients:

about 25 shiso leaves

2 umeboshi, pitted and roughly chopped

1 small clove garlic

2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts

olive oil

freshly ground pepper

This makes enough pesto for about a half-pound of pasta.

optional:

shiitake mushrooms

There are all kinds of umeboshi.

My favorite kind is the one that has 5% salt on the outside of the package. 

That's the lowest salt that I can find at my local markets.

Since my friends know I love umeboshi, they give them to me when someone gives umeboshi to them, so I have a lot.

The one I used is saltier than 5%, maybe closer to 11% (I've seen those, too), but they're pretty fancy, they came in a box.

In any case, I gave them a rough chop and put them in my Magic Bullet.

1 small clove of garlic goes in there, too.

Thank you, once again Cherie, for the Magic Bullet.

It comes in handy for small jobs!

Cherie and I were talking on the phone yesterday about shiso pesto sauce.

She lives in Virginia and has shiso, basil and arugula growing wildly all over her yard!

Cherie puts 4 cloves of garlic in her pesto sauce, but I only use 1, so add more if you like a lot of raw garlic.

Then add your shiso leaves, a squeeze of lemon (about 1 teaspoon or so) and about 1/3 cup olive oil.

Blend.

Then add the pine nuts and freshly cracked pepper and blend till smooth.

Taste and adjust seasonings.

I don't add any salt because the umeboshi is salty, but taste yours and see if it needs it to your taste.

The sauce should be a little on the salty side, like regular pesto sauce.

Mix with your favorite noodles, adding a little at a time to reach the optimum balance.

Maybe this one can use a little more pesto, but you can always add more sauce, it takes longer to boil more noodles if it's too strong.

I put some shiitake in one small batch, adding the sliced shiitake to the pasta water to quickly cook them.

Quickly sautéing them comes out better.

This time the shiso pesto is over whole wheat penne with shiitake.

Chiffonade some shiso to garnish or mix into the pasta along with some nori strips.

It's my favorite thing I've cooked all week!


Itadakimasu!



***




This is my friend Cherie.

This is my favorite photo of her, I think it captures how fun she is perfectly.

I've used it a couple of times here on the blog.

We made edamame rice and peanut butter & jam mochi together.

We've been friends for a long time.

Ever since we were kids.

That's Cherie on the left, her sister Laura on the right.

I can hardly remember a time we weren't friends.

I'm thinking we met when we were this age--maybe a little younger.

Don't laugh.

Okay, go ahead and laugh.

It's funny.

But I thought it only fair that if I was posting a photo of them, I should also post a photo of me!

There they are in high school with their younger brothers.

We played basketball together.

We weren't very good, we lost just about every game we played.

By a lot, too.

I remember getting beat by the Wanjetts 55 to 5.

But we had a lot of fun.

That's Cherie in the front, second from the right and me next to her in the middle.

Gosh, this photo was probably taken more than ten years ago when Cherie and her son Pete were visiting and we went to the Getty Museum.

For sure more than ten years ago!

The Takemoto girls are still two of my closest friends.

***

Ingredients:

about 25 shiso leaves

2 umeboshi, pitted and roughly chopped

1 small clove garlic

2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts

olive oil

freshly ground pepper

This makes enough pesto for about a half-pound of pasta.

Optional:

shiitake mushrooms

Roughly chop the umeboshi and put into the blender along with the garlic, shiso leaves, a squeeze of lemon (about 1 teaspoon or so) and about 1/3 cup olive oil.

Blend.

Then add the pine nuts and freshly cracked pepper and blend till smooth.

Taste and adjust seasonings. It should be on the salty-side.

Mix with your favorite noodles, adding a little bit of pesto at a time to reach optimum balance.