When was the last time I enjoyed pesto pasta? I have no clue, as the Italian restaurants in the UK seem only to serve tomato and cream sauce, while the brightening green sauce — pesto — has been long forgotten.
Today, I probably happened to solve this mystery after making pesto by myself.
The Pesto Mystery
While rosso can be prepared in advance, with the great help of canned/tinned tomato; bianco is delightfully easy to make to order, using heavy cream; pesto, on the other hand, requires bunches of fresh basil, pine nuts and a big handful of snowy Parmesan cheese, all of which come at a significant cost. And it can’t be made beforehand, making it even more difficult to serve in a restaurant, at least in the UK. Pesto pasta is generally much easier to spot in Italy, especially in Genoa.
Below pesto recipe is learned from cookbook ‘Pasta’ by Theo Randall and ‘Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat’ by Samin Nosrat.
How to Store Pesto
According to Samin, homemade pesto can be stored in the fridge with enough olive oil covering it to prevent discolouration or frozen for up to 3 months.
Linguine with Pesto Recipe
The most hesitating part probably is grating the cheese — it takes time, yet is a simple job. Plan ahead, gather all the ingredients, throw them in a blender, and your spring-green-coloured pesto is done.
Ingredients
Serves 3 as a main, or 4 as a generous starter
- 240 g linguine
For the Pesto
- 100 g basil
- 70 g pine nuts
- 100 g Parmesan cheese
- 1 clove garlic
- 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp water
- pinch of salt to taste
- a few drops lemon juice (optional)
How to Make
- Make the pesto first. Pick and wash the basil leaves, then drain. I’ve got 75 g leaves out of a 100 g pack.
- Lightly toast the pine nuts with an 180ºC oven. About 4 minutes will do the job, but keep an eye on it so they don’t get burnt.
- Meanwhile, finely grate the Parmesan cheese and garlic.
- Place half of the basil into a blender, followed by 3 tbsp of olive oil and start blitzing. Put in more basil, pine nuts, cheese and blitz again. And finally add in the remaining basil, cheese, olive oil and water, blitz everything till smooth.
- Have a taste, then add salt, and taste again. Add a few drops of lemon juice if required.
- Cook the pasta and drain, then toss with pesto. Drizzle in more olive oil before serving.
Variations
Serving pesto with potatoes and green beans is common in Genoa. I first suspected putting potato and pasta together — mixing 2 carbs in one plate — seems odd enough as Syrians cook angel hair in rice. But soon you’ll surrender to this combination and find it actually quite tasty.
Add Potatoes and Green Beans
To volume up the above pesto linguine, follow this simple recipe:
- Finely slice some baby potatoes (any waxy potato will do), and boil them in a pot of salted water for 4 minutes.
- After one minute, also throw in a small handful of frozen green beans. When the vegetables is cooked, scoop out with a slotted spoon, set aside and have a taste.
- Cook pasta in the same pot of salted water.
- Meanwhile, crush a clove of garlic and slowly warm it in a pan. Return the potatoes and green beans, season with salt if required.
- Keep the heat low, throw in the pasta and pesto, then mix everything well. Sprinkle in more cheese before serving if desired.
