I absolutely love pesto and am constantly looking for new dishes I can add it to. I even recently started growing my own basil so I can make my own pesto from scratch. Yes, my obsession with pesto goes that deep.

Being as I also recently learned how to make a roux (Its not nearly as complicated as it sounds!), I’ve been itching to make different sauces that would involve it. Well, making a pesto roux sauce seemed like a great idea and it was. We decided to pair it with Sea Bass here, but I think it would also pair splendidly with chicken if you don’t like fish as much as I do. The cherry tomatoes also add a nice texture and flavor to the dish but you could easily  leave them out if you have a vendetta against tomatoes or allergy or some other strange aversion to them.

Now let’s start making the roux! You add the butter and flour together in the pan on low heat and stir until it looks like the consistency below with a slight golden hue to it.

Now that you have a  roux , you can start whisking in the vegetable or chicken stock (whichever you prefer, I used vegetable and it turned out very good). Your sauce should now appear creamy and delicious instead of thick and pasty.

Once you are happy with the consistency of your sauce, you can add in the pesto. If your sauce is still too thick you can add more stock to thin it. If it is too thin, keep cooking it as it will thicken as you cook it.

Once the sauce is done, you can cook the tomatoes. They don’t take very long since we only want to warm them. Add them to a pan with a little bit of olive oil.

Make sure to salt and pepper the sea bass before you cook it.

Sear the fish 3 to 5 minutes on each side or until it is done and flaky.

We had never cooked short ribs before, and decided to try them sous vide.  They pair really well with a side of our crispy polenta, as pictured above.  First, season, seal, and cook the short ribs at 135° F for 72 hours.

It’s possible that 48 or less would be sufficient, but 72 seems to be the most recommended.

Then sear them, place them on top of the polenta and top with the wine reduction sauce.

These meatballs pack some serious spice with both habaneros and dried chilies.  Served in a thick tomato sauce with plenty of veggies, this is a seriously filling dish.  Enjoy with a side of good toasted bread!

First we make some meatballs.

Crush some whole dried chilies with a mortar and pestle.  Adding some salt helps with the grinding.  Simmer the peppers in vinegar until fragrant.  The fumes from this process are quite potent, so watch your eyes!  Then brown the meatballs in the spicy vinegar liquid.

Add the meatballs to the veggie and tomato sauce to let simmer!