All you need is love….a little bit of ‘pesto love’ to take a regular sandwich, salad, zoodle, or pasta recipe and turn it around!
Pesto is herby, nutty, light, and lavish, all at the same time! It’s an extremely versatile sauce and you can whip it in under 10 minutes. Once you get used to homemade pesto, you’ll never go back to store-bought jars. Make sure you use absolutely fresh basil, that’s the key. You can plant some in a little pot at your kitchen counter or pick a fresh bunch from the farmers’ market.
I say spend 10 minutes on the weekend, whip yourself a little pesto jar, and a week ahead full of happy meals!
Pasta Al Pesto
Enjoy the steps!
Ingredients
- Pasta: 160 gm spaghetti or tagliatelle
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves, stems removed & washed
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp pine nuts
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- Salt to taste (preferably kosher salt)
- Optional: 2 tablespoon pecorino cheese, grated
- Optional condiments: roasted chilli garlic tomatoes, parmesan, toasty baguette
Directions
- In a blender, add all the pesto sauce ingredients and blend until smooth. Season and do a taste check. If required, adjust the seasoning as per choice.
- Boil pasta as per the package instructions (ideally al dente) and reserve some pasta water.
- Transfer cooked pasta into warm serving bowls, add pesto, mix well, and serve hot!
Tips:
- You can dry roast pine nuts for a rich toasty flavour before blending them. Substitute: walnuts.
- If required, you can add a bit of pasta water to adjust the consistency of the sauce.
- To make a gluten-free version, use gluten-free pasta.
- To make a vegan version, use 2-3 tablespoon of nutritional yeast instead of parmesan cheese or vegan parmesan.
- Pesto can be stored in the fridge in an air-tight container for 4-5 days.
