Rouge Tomate's Spinach Almond Pesto Spread

By Executive Chef Jeremy Bearman

(Serves 2, or enough for 4 slices of bread)

Ingredients

• 5 bunches, about 2 ½ lbs. Cleaned Spinach (Savoy or Bloomsdale)
• 1 cup of toasted almonds
• 1/2 cup, about garlic cloves, blanched
• 1 cup of toasted almonds
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper to your taste
  

Preparation
· Pre-heat an oven to 300˚F. 
·Put a large pot of salted water on the stove for blanching the spinach and garlic.
·Take a large container and fill it with ice and water.
·Toss the almonds with ¼ tsp. of olive oil and a pinch of salt. 
·Place almonds on a sheet tray or in a pan in a single layer. 
·Place in the pre-heated oven and toast until they are golden, about three minutes. 
·Remove from the oven and allow almonds to cool to room temperature. 
·Peel the garlic, cut the cloves in half and remove the germ.  Reserve the garlic.
·De-stem and wash the spinach to remove all dirt and grit.
·Add the spinach and the garlic to boiling water.  (It is important for the water to continue boiling during the
blanching process.  For this reason you may need to blanch the spinach in batches). 
· When the spinach is completely tender—you can bite it with your teeth and there is no resistance—remove the spinach and the garlic from the boiling water and put it into the ice water, or shocking water. 
· Mix the spinach in the shocking water so that it cools down quickly. 
· Remove the spinach and garlic from the shocking water and gently press the spinach to remove any excess
water.  Reserve this excess water.
· Place the cooked and pressed spinach, garlic, and toasted almonds in a blender.  Do not fill the blender more
than 2/3 full.  If you need to blend the spinach in batches, try to separate equal amounts of spinach, garlic, and almonds. 
· Turn the blender on a low setting to puree the spinach.  Slowly stream in a l
ittle of the reserved water
from the pressed spinach until the spinach begins to puree.  Increase the speed of the blender slowly and blend until the spinach is a smooth puree.  You may need to add a little more water as you increase the speed of the blender. 
· When the spinach has a smooth consistency, stream in ¼ cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. 

*This may be kept covered in the refrigerator for two days.  The spinach pesto is best when served at room temperature so be sure to remove it from the refrigerator about an hour before you serve it.

Rouge Tomate

Phone: (646)237-8977

Address: 10 East 60th Street, btwn 5th & Madison Aves.