Recipe – Tagliatelle with Pesto

Last weekend was a very lazy one. On Saturday morning Normita went out with some friends to celebrate the birthday of Viky over breakfast, and I stayed home to work. In the afternoon I was getting very lazy and I was not in the mood to prepare anything elaborate in the kitchen. Normita mentioned that she was in the mood of some pasta with maybe pesto, so I jumped in the car to go to the super and pick up some fresh basil, some pasta, and a bottle of white wine. I prepared a quick and dirty pesto, which takes about as much time as boiling the water for the pasta. I had bought some tagliatelle pasta, but you can substitute the pasta of your choice. It is a true lazy Saturday dish…

Ingredients

5 quarts water
1 1/2 tbs salt
1/2 pound dry tagliatelle pasta
1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1 large clove elephant garlic or 4-5 cloves regular garlic
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan to taste for garnish

Preparation

1. In a large pot bring the water with salt to boil and cook the pasta until tender.
2. While waiting for the water to boil, in a sauté pan over medium high heat toast the 1/4 cup of pine nuts until golden brown. Make sure not to burn them. Set aside for garnishing.
3. Using a food processor or blender place the roughly chopped garlic and basil, the 1/2 cup of pine nuts, and the olive oil. Pulse until smooth.
4. Drain the pasta when cooked and return it to the pot. Pour the pesto sauce over it and toss over medium heat until the sauce and the remaining water is well absorbed into the pasta.
5. Server and season with salt and pepper to taste and top with freshly grated parmesan.

Lucito