Pasta with Fresh Pesto Time: about 15 minutes plus
pasta cooking time Use your choice of commercial pasta, either fresh or dried,
stuffed (ravioli, tortellini) or not, long, short, whatever...
1 cup dried or 8 oz fresh pasta for 2
Pesto
2 cups basil - lightly packed - meaning somewhere between crushing it into the measuring cup and dropping it in lightly
1/3 cup Parmesan - fresh is best. To measure cut in small cubes
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 - 1 cup good olive oil - enough to get the consistency you want for the sauce
2 cloves garlic - no instructions - but do peel them
Put everything but the oil in a blender. Add 1/2 cup oil and blend. Add more oil as needed. It really depends on how tightly you packed the basil. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta, rinse lightly to cool a bit and put into a serving bowl. Add about 1/2 cup pesto - more if you like but that should be plenty. Toss to coat and serve. Save the remaining pesto for another day. It will keep for a week in the fridge, 6 - 9 months in the freezer. See Preserving Herbs.
Cooking for Two? Or more?
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