Work and school were canceled yesterday in Maryland for some snow that only kind of happened. In my neck of the woods the snow had melted by noon, but I know others got hit a bit harder. It’s kind of silly how much people freak out about snow here on the east coast. If I still lived in Utah, today’s storm would have been like an average day in early April. Still, I like a day off better than trudging to work in the snow.

This past weekend I got it in my head that I needed to make pesto out of poblano peppers. I flew by the seat of my pants and it pretty much worked. I started by popping the whole poblanos on the bare oven rack a few inches from the broiler and letting them get nice and black. Some people really like the smell of charring peppers but, I have to admit, I think it smells like Warped Tour. Back when I used to go to Warped Tour. I mean it smells like the weed that I smelled at Warped Tour, since that’s the only place I’ve ever really smelled it. But I do love charred peppers, so I live with the smell.

While I was busy hot-boxing the kitchen, Cody was on call for photo ops. He kept himself entertained while I cooked by making Murdock yawn. It’s pretty funny, nine times out of ten if you scratch his ears just right he yawns. Predictable as clockwork.

Anyway, I made some pasta and some crostinis as vehicles for my pesto. Crostinis are just croutons made from sliced baguette. I make mine by slicing the baguette on the bias, drizzling the slices with olive oil, sprinkling with salt and pepper, and baking at 350 for about  15 to 20 minutes. These things are my favorite way to get most dips to my mouth, next to Utz ripples. There are occasions when Utz simply won’t do, and in these cases I usually make crostini.

To finish the pesto, let the poblanos steam in a covered bowl for a few minutes, until they are cool enough to handle. Then peel the skins from the pepper, remove the stems and seeds, and put them in your food processor. Add to that about a cup of grated manchego cheese (parmesan would work too), a quarter of an onion, a garlic clove, a jalapeno, lime juice, olive oil, and cilantro. Give the whole thing a few pulses and that’s my version of poblano pesto. You could also add marcona almonds, but I didn’t and it still tasted great.

Those pasta photos are pretty right? Cody takes a good picture but, in all honesty, I’m not awesome at making pasta and this batch was sort of meh. I mean I can get pasta out of the pot and on to a plate when it’s “al dente”, but I’ve had such glorious pasta in my life that I am painfully aware of how good it can be and how far mine is from being really good. So I’m on a quest for someone who can teach me how to finesse pasta into silk and love instead of stick and starch. Anyone have an Italian grandma or grandpa they’d like to share?