How to Ruin a Kitchen Spoon, or What to Do with Leftover Parsley

A couple of days ago, I returned from my holiday travels to a questionable refrigerator. Yes, there were (are?) forgotten meatballs in the back of the fridge from before Christmas. There was also a bunch of Italian flat-leaf parsley that had held up remarkably well over the holidays. I decided to go with the parsley, mostly to avoid what I was sure would be a mean bout of food poisoning from the meatballs.

Looking around the kitchen, I noticed plain yogurt, walnuts, and garlic. I decided to make a modified pesto, using parsley in place of basil, walnuts in place of pine nuts, etc. I figured adding a bit of yogurt would make the modified pesto creamier so that I could use it both as a sauce and as a spread.

Since my roommate was taking a nap, I took the blender into my room and mixed the pesto on the floor. This doesn't really have anything to do with anything, but I promise that you would have laughed if you could have seen me kneeling on the carpet by the bathroom, bending over the blender with a spoon.

Then, I made one of those stupid mistakes that you know is a bad idea even before you do it. With the blender still running, I decided I would use my favorite bamboo kitchen spoon to push the pieces of parsley that had sprayed up on the sides of the glass down into the mixture. Obviously, I pushed them down a bit too far, and the blender ate my spoon. I'm pretty sure there are bamboo fibers in my pesto, but it tastes too good to care.

Cooking in Kitt's Kittchen is always an adventure, I guess.

Modified Parsley Pesto

• 1 1/2 cups Italian flat-leaf parsley
• 1/3 cup walnuts
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt to taste

1. Sauté the garlic in the olive oil until browned and fragrant. Allow garlic and oil to cool for a moment before adding to the blender.

2. Add the cilantro, yogurt, and salt. Blend, adding a bit more yogurt or olive oil if the mixture is too dry and stalls the blender.

3. Once the mixture is smooth, add the walnuts, and purée until the mixture is smooth and thick. Taste and adjust salt to your preference.

Voilà! A delicious modified pesto, shown above on some leftover bulgur wheat and lentil salad. It works equally well on toast or crackers, and the color is perfect to brighten up those dreary winter dishes (why is everything some shade of brown?).

Just be sure to turn the blender off before you start interfering with the spoon.