Pesto-- more like PestNo!
October 24, 2011 12:01 PM   Subscribe

FixMyFood filter: brilliant idea for creamy pesto gone wrong. help make me unsad!

I thought I would be really brilliant and use some cream cheese (thinned out with milk) to make some awesome creamy garlic scape pesto. I now have an inordinate amount of garlic cream cheese. I tried adding more garlic scapes, some parmesan, and more milk, but it's really just growing and nothing is covering the cream cheese taste. I don't really think it needs more garlic flavor, either, and I'm sort of loathe to using up all of my garlic scapes, but am willing to do it if it's the only viable solution.

so, just to recap, I have several cups of slightly nutty garlic cream cheese about as thick as apple sauce...

Ideas? alternate uses?
posted by CookieNose to Food & Drink (14 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Sounds like you've just made yourself some dip. Don't throw good ingredients after a bad experiment. Either save it to use as dip, or toss it and consider it a lesson learned.
posted by Gilbert at 12:05 PM on October 24, 2011 [1 favorite]


How much milk, and how much Parmesan? In the distant past i used to make alfredo sauce like this recipe and I thought the cream cheese taste was pretty well covered by the garlic and parmesan. I'd keep adding milk to it, personally.
posted by cabingirl at 12:05 PM on October 24, 2011 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Spread it on French bread, sprinkle some more parmesan on top and stick it under the broiler.

I'll be right over.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:07 PM on October 24, 2011 [7 favorites]


I'm guessing here that you don't like the taste of cream cheese? because what you describe sounds insanely delicious to me! Maybe what you have just made is a lovely gift for a friend who is a lover of cream cheese.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 12:10 PM on October 24, 2011


Savory cheesecake? Toss with warm pasta? Mix into a quiche or strata?
posted by chickenmagazine at 12:12 PM on October 24, 2011


Best answer: If you need to dilute it to make it palatable as a dip you could also add frozen spinach and some shredded carrots.
posted by mercredi at 12:12 PM on October 24, 2011


Freeze it in small batches. Add to béchamels and other cream sauces!

- Cauliflower Soup
- White Pizza base (so effing good!)
- Sauce/binder for creamy vegetable and Italian sausage casserole (or binder any casserole!)
- Mac n ' Cheese, use to enrich sauce
- Add to Mashed or Whipped Potatoes
- Chicken Pot Pie
- Sauce for sautéed Chicken, add Mushrroms and Parsley.


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If I wanted to fix it right now, I would melt butter and add fine dice of shallot - not onion, shallot. I would mix into the cream cheese mixture and hope the melted butter + aromatics cut the cream cheesiness.

Also. A little minced parsley!
posted by jbenben at 12:17 PM on October 24, 2011 [1 favorite]


If you want to turn it into a sauce, I would add vegetable broth rather than milk.
posted by something something at 12:21 PM on October 24, 2011 [1 favorite]


This sounds like a dip to me, especially if you stir in some chopped fresh herbs (parsley, perhaps) or serve with a topper. This sounds good spread on decent bread slices or crackers, and topped with fresh chives, sliced Italian deli meats, etc.
posted by Hylas at 1:35 PM on October 24, 2011


Stop adding milk and start adding olive oil. (Since that's what makes pesto a sauce, not milk.) And yes, potentially use up your scapes.

Or , just take what you have and stir it into hot pasta. mmmmm.
posted by Kololo at 1:58 PM on October 24, 2011


Response by poster: As I suspected, your answers are great!

I will just say that the whole reason why I wrote this is because it does not taste good on pasta as is (to me, anyway).

I have a feeling I'll be making some bread dough tonight, then having this as dip a la mercredi with it tomorrow.

thanks, all!
posted by CookieNose at 2:03 PM on October 24, 2011


My friend's mom made cream cheese lasagna and it was the bomb! I did a lazy pasta bake version and it still was great. It makes it taste really rich so don't go too crazy, just alternate layers of pasta, cheese (thin layer) and tomato sauce like normal.
posted by stray thoughts at 4:57 PM on October 24, 2011 [1 favorite]


You could have fixed that pasta with a can of tinned tomatoes and fresh basil, I'm sure. :)
posted by jopreacher at 8:29 PM on October 24, 2011


Not that there isn't basil in the pesto. Sheesh. BLACK PEPPER I mean.
posted by jopreacher at 8:32 PM on October 24, 2011


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