Pesto Diva.
After a very busy weekend in Winter Park with the tree lighting on Friday and the Olde Town Parade on Saturday morning, we just wanted something simple for lunch, so headed off to the Winter Park Farmers Market and made a bee line for the Pesto Diva’s stall.
I have spoken to Anna Marie Mele (the Pesto Diva) and sampled her excellent products on many occasions but never committed my thoughts to print, so this seemed a perfect time to rectify that.
The Pesto Diva has built a tremendous local business initially supplying fresh authentic Italian Pesto with no artificial ingredients, which can now be purchased from Florida Whole Food Markets, the Winter Park Farmers Market and most recently The Winter Garden Farmers Market. Anna Marie now provides over nine different flavors of Pesto, from Pistachio to the spicy Habanero, all with the same quality and love of simple fresh ingredients.
I purchased a tub of the Classic Pesto, comprising of handpicked basil, imported olive oil, blended with garlic, freshly toasted walnuts and grated Romano cheese, a familiar favorite of ours and an essential element of our Burrata Bruschetta lunch. So, on arriving home we toasted some thick slices of whole grain bread, liberally spread some of the excellent pesto over the bread to cover right up to the edges, added slices of fresh tomatoes and a drizzle of Balsamic Vinegar and topped the Bruschetta with creamy Burrata, (Burrata is a fresh Italian cheese made form mozzarella & cream).
The first thing you notice about the Pesto Diva product is how smooth the flavor is, and how you can really identify all the elements of the sauce setting it miles apart from mass produced products.
Tips
Balsamic Vinegar enhances the flavor of Tomatoes, as it can with Strawberries believe it or not!!
The exterior of the Burrata is firm with a creamy center (a whole one looks very much like a boiled egg) which makes it perfect for this Bruschetta creation.
The pesto made our Bruschetta taste amazing, but we have been just as impressed making a VERY simple Pesto Pasta dish. You don’t really need a recipe for this (Pesto – Pasta – Small amount of Pasta Water & Toss) but if you do, there is one available on the Pesto Diva web page.
We love local businesses and great entrepreneurial success stories, chalk this one up as another great Winter Park must try.
