Missing, making, and bringing the bling

In the world of the contemporary bachelor father (ref not-so contemporary family sitcom of the same name), missing your children is inevitable.
For bachelor food, there are two main remedies. First is prepare something to set aside for their next stay (stock is a favourite). Second is to make something for yourself to give some bling to your interim meals.
On Sunday afternoon, out in the garden (such as it is), my eldest son remarked that the chilli and basil plants were getting a little heavy.
After saying goodbye to them (the children, not the chillies), I swung into action.

Recipe: Chilli paste

This is an extremely tasty and versatile bit of bling. It's based on one I used to do about 15 years ago when, above the cooktop, I used to hang a sign "put the rice on now" because meals whipped up using this little gem were ready so quickly.

It works very well with poached fish, and fried with coconut cream as the basis of a stir-fry. Or you can just add it to stuff.

Ingredients

15–20 bird’s eye or tabasco chilies
1 large red capsicum
4 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 teaspoon palm sugar
5 basil leaves
3 curry leaves
2 teaspoons salt

Method

Roast lightly oiled capsicum (preferably over a barbecue). Turn when skin begins to blacken and bubble. Once blackened on all sides, remove to a plastic bag, seal and set aside until cool enough to handle.
Roughly chop remaining solid ingredients, and place in blender with the vinegar, oil, salt and sugar
Remove capsicum, peel off the skin and remove seeds. Roughly chop, then place in the blender with the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth.
Remove to a small saucepan, bring to boil and simmer until mixture is reduced by about 1/3.
Place in a sterilised jar, seal and refrigerate.

Recipe: Mixed herb pesto

Ingredients

3 big handfuls basil leaves
Several sprigs each: Sage, Parsley, Oregano
.25 cup almond slivers
1 clove garlic
Juice 1 lemon
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon grated parmesan

Method

In a dry frying pan on medium to high heat, fry almond slivers until they are golden. Careful, once they start to go, they blacken quickly if you let them.
Once done, remove to a bowl. Now pop the unpeeled garlic clove into the pan and brown in on each side, so that it is soft and starting to caramelise in the middle. Then let it cool, and peel.
Put all the ingredients a little at a time into a blender, using enough oil to keep the contents churning. The amount of oil you need will vary according to the moisture content of the basil leaves.
Spoon into a sterilised jar, seal and refrigerate.