A simple, down-to-earth recipe for a delicious pasta! Pine-nuts, almonds, basil, I mean, can a recipe get more healthy? With some grilled veggies on the side, this can be a complete meal!
Incase you are looking for more pasta recipes, here are some.. from my kitchen. Check 'em out!!
Basic Info
Complexity - SimplePrep time - 10 mins
Cook time - 10 mins
Serves - 4-5
Ingredients
Fresh basil leaves - 3/4 cup, packed
Pine nut - 1/2 cup
Slivered Almonds - 1/2 cup
Garlic - 2 cloves
Olive oil - 2-3 tbsp
Parmesan cheese - 1/8 cup (optional)
Pasta - 400 gms (appoximately)
Salt & water - as required
Red chilli flakes & parmesan cheese - for garnish
Method
Cook pasta as per the instructions given in the pasta cover.
Now, take a food processor, toss in almonds, pine nuts and give it a pulse or two until the mixture looks like a caorse meal. Now, add roughly chopped basil leaves and pulse again until the consistency looks like pesto. And, while the food processor is running, add 2 tbsp of olive oil through the feed tube. Finally, add parmesan cheese (if using) & salt and give a good mix.
Now, heat a tbsp of olive oil in a pan. Meanwhile, lightly smash the garlic cloves and add it to the hot oil. Saute until fragrant. Remove the garlic cloves while they are golden brown (if you leave it too long, olive oil will have a burnt garlic smell). Add cooked pasta & the basil pesto and stir well to mix.
Garnish with chilli flakes / parmesan cheese and serve hot!
Variations
- Skip almonds and replace it with pine nuts.
- You can dry toast pine nuts until golden brown and use it to make pesto. Roasting pinenuts deepens the flavor of pesto.
- If you have high tolerance for the taste & flavor of fresh garlic, you can grind garlic cloves along with nuts & basil into the pesto.