I never get tired of a classic pasta sauce without a hint of red

Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto from Costco Wholesale dressing Garofalo Whole Wheat Pappardelle from Jerry's Gourmet in Englewood. I served the pasta on Wednesday night with stove top-grilled Chinese eggplant that was on sale for 49 cents a pound at H Mart, also in Englewood.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss my 40-year love affair with a classic pasta sauce, the best buy in pomegranates and side dishes from H Mart. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I first tasted pesto, the pasta sauce packed with fragrant fresh basil leaves, in the early 1970s at a seaside Italian restaurant on the French Riviera.

By the late 1980s, I was buying a case of fresh basil leaves every summer, making two-cup, freezable portions from a blender recipe I found in a Marcella Hazan cookbook and enjoying pesto through the winter.

I never fell out of love with pesto, but found the versions served in restaurants often lacked enough basil to deliver the magical taste I remember from that restaurant in Nice, not far from Genoa, Italy, where it originated. 

Not only does pesto give you a break from red pasta sauces, the dressing gets its richness from grated cow's and sheep's milk cheeses, extra-virgin olive oil and pine nuts -- not the artery clogging cream and butter you'd find in Alfredo Sauce. 

Besto pesto from Costco

In recent years, I've relied on Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto from Costco Wholesale ($7.99 for a 22-ounce jar) to dress pasta, spread on sandwich bread, and add to soup, frittatas and omelets.

On Wednesday, I took out the jar of Costco pesto I had in the refrigerator, boiled water, added a pound of whole-wheat pappardelle and cooked it for 10 minutes.

I returned the drained pasta to the same pot, with the fire off; added about two-thirds of the pesto, mixed them well and served the wide, mouth-filling noodles with grilled eggplant and a salad for a delicious dinner.

I put the remaining pesto in the freezer.

The pesto's use-by date isn't written in stone, as I've found with some other products from Costco, such as Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix.

Two of the large pomegranates my wife bought at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, above, yielded 4 to 5 cups of seeds, below. Six large pomegranates were $14.99.

Pomegranate season

You can find pomegranates at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, H Mart in Little Ferry and ShopRite in Paramus, among other stores.

But their size, weight and price differ, making them difficult to compare in terms of which one is the best buy.

I've sprinkled pomegranate seeds over hot cereal and salad, and eaten them with a spoon. I'm wondering whether I can cook with them.

For example, the crunchy, sweet-and-sour seeds might taste great as a garnish for steamed organic brown rice or quinoa.

But can I put them in an electric cooker with the other ingredients or should I add them just before I serve the rice or quinoa? Stay tuned.

I found a Persian recipe for Jeweled Rice with pomegranate seeds sprinkled over the dish. Here is a link:

Persian Jeweled Rice (with Nuts and Dried Fruit) 

My wife simply cuts the pomegranate in half and removes the seeds with her fingers over the container we use to store them in the refrigerator.

This morning, a display of pomegranates at the ShopRite in Paramus was missing a price sign. The store circular said they are on sale for 99 cents each through Saturday. 

A ShopRite pomegranate weighed less than 1 pound.

A Costco pomegranate, which cost about $2.50, weighed 1.4 pounds, above. H Mart in Little Ferry has large pomegranates on sale for $1.99 each through Friday. The ShopRite pomegranate looks like the best buy.

Leftover Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain 10 Grain Hot Cereal made a great breakfast today when reheated and served with pomegranate seeds, non-fat Greek yogurt and Organic Blue Agave nectar.

Baby mustard greens were on sale for 99 cents a pound this week at H Mart in Little Ferry, and I bought some to serve with fresh Icelandic haddock from Costco Wholesale ($8.99 a pound), and leftover organic quinoa made with organic diced tomatoes and whole garlic cloves in an electric cooker. On Wednesday, H Mart in Englewood had long, slender Chinese eggplants on sale for 49 cents a pound. Unfortunately, you can't rely on every H Mart to have the same item on sale at the same time.

Does besto pesto come from a Costco Wholesale warehouse?

Costco Wholesale says the basil in its Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto comes from Italy.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The blend of basil, cheese, olive oil, garlic and pine nuts called pesto adds a summer accent to dishes all year around.

After my first taste of pesto 40 years ago in Europe, I found a great blender recipe and enjoyed the basil-based sauce with pasta, fish and egg dishes.

The Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto "uses only Genovese Basil grown in the Liguria region of Italy, which is a narrow strip of mountainous land bordering the Mediterranean Sea and surrounding the city of Genoa [where pesto originated],"  according to the label.

A 22-ounce bottle, enough for 2 pounds of pasta, was $7.99.

A teaspoon of Costco pesto on an egg-white omelet.

The blender recipe from chef Marcella Hazan calls for 2 cups of fresh basil leaves -- packed -- and the result is a great-tasting pesto.

The Kirkland Signature pesto is fragrant and tastes good, but the first ingredient listed is a "basil blend" of leaves, oil and cheese.

I haven't tried Costco's pesto with the imported artisan egg tagliatelle noodles I found at my Hackensack warehouse store last week, but as of now, I give the edge to Hazan.

Of course, Costco's pesto will have to do until basil appears in the market or starts growing in my garden again.

Here is Hazan's recipe for making pesto in a blender, minus salt and butter.

She used two kinds of cheese, but I use only grated Pecorino Romano, a sheep's milk cheese.

I use the "Chop" setting on my blender -- a slow speed that allows me to push down the basil, garlic and other ingredients as the blender worked.

BLENDER PESTO

Enough for 1 pound or 6 servings of pasta

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons pine nuts

2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed with a heavy knife blade and peeled

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

1. Put the pine nuts, garlic cloves, basil and extra-virgin olive oil in the blender and mix at slow speed.  Stop from time to time and scrape the ingredients down toward the bottom of the blender cup with a rubber spatula.  

2.  When the ingredients are evenly blended, pour into a bowl and beat in the two grated cheeses by hand. (This is not much work, and it results in more interesting texture and better flavor than you get when you mix in the cheese in the blender.)  If you do not want to use the pesto immediately, put it into a closed container and freeze it before you add the cheese.

3. Before spooning the pesto over the pasta, add to it a tablespoon or so of the hot water in which the pasta has boiled.  Do not heat the pesto before you add it to the pasta.

Note: The best pesto has a great deal of basil in it. I use leaves and stems, and pack a measuring cup with it. The more basil, the better. I've also added mint, rosemary, arugula, parsley and other herbs, but think basil makes the best pesto.