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Pasta with pesto sauce

Pasta with Pesto Sauce

Appetizing, absolutely delicious, dinner for the whole family! Pasta with pesto is a well-known Italian recipe. I really like this version for its proportions - the pesto comes out with the right consistency and a balanced flavor. Any shape of pasta will work with it.

katushafin

Recipe author

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Pasta

450

Basil

Pine nuts

Olive oil

100

Parmesan

Garlic

Salt

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 14 % 11 g

Fats 30 % 24 g

Carbohydrates 56 % 44 g

413 kcal

GI: 5 / 95 / 0

Cooking method

Cooking time: 30 min

Step 1:

How do you make pasta with pesto? Gather the ingredients. Use green basil for the pesto. Only the leaves go into the sauce - the stems are too tough. Olive oil is best, but plain vegetable oil will do in a pinch. Instead of Parmesan, you can use any other hard cheese. Any nuts work too - cashews, walnuts, almonds.
Step 2:

First make the pesto. How do you make the sauce? Rinse the basil leaves well and dry them. Peel the garlic. You can toast the nuts lightly in a skillet; I didn't. Put the leaves, nuts, garlic, and oil in a blender.
Step 3:

Pulse in short bursts to grind the mixture into a coarse crumb. Don't over-process it - pesto isn't a smooth paste but a grainy one. If you have a marble mortar, you can grind everything in it, the way it's done in the classic recipe.
Step 4:

Grate the cheese on a fine grater.
Step 5:

Add the cheese to the ground mixture and pulse the blender for just a few seconds to combine everything. Now taste the pesto for salt; I added a teaspoon. If the sauce already tastes salty to you, don't add any.
Step 6:

All that's left is to cook the pasta. See how to cook pasta properly at the end of the recipe. Cook it until al dente - when it's still slightly firm to the bite. Drain the pasta in a colander and immediately put it in a deep bowl. A little water left clinging to it is fine; it'll loosen the sauce. Add the pesto, toss, and only then plate it. Or you can plate the pasta first and add the sauce on top.

The taste of this dish depends a lot on choosing the right pasta - pick pasta made only from durum wheat. It doesn't turn to mush and is much tastier. Any shape and size works: spaghetti, fusilli, penne, elbow macaroni, tagliatelle. If you're an experienced cook, you can make the pasta yourself. Finished pesto keeps well in the fridge for several days. If you've made too much sauce, freeze it - it's best to divide the pesto into portions. Besides pasta, pesto is great with chicken dishes and is often used in salads too.
How do you cook pasta properly? Use a roomy pot, allowing about 1 liter of water per 100 grams of pasta. The key is for the pasta to float freely in the liquid. Salt to taste. Bring the water to a boil. It's important to add the pasta only to boiling water, or it may clump together. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until done or al dente (the cooking time is always on the package). Drain the cooked pasta in a colander and let the liquid run off. Don't rinse cooked pasta with water. If you're not going to toss the pasta with sauce right away, you can return it from the colander to the pot and add a teaspoon of olive oil (or a pat of butter) and gently stir to keep it from sticking.