Hi everyone and welcome back to my channel.
Today we’re making Basil Pesto Pasta.
It’s a very fresh tasting pasta dish filled with good quality ingredients.
Pesto is simple to make, which makes this pasta dish perfect for weeknight meals or
lunches.
So if you would like to learn how to make it then lets get started.
We’re going to start by making the Basil Pesto for the pasta.
This is just a basic basil pesto recipe so it can be used for all sorts of things, not
just a sauce for pasta.
Start by crushing two cloves of garlic and removing the peel.
Crushing them makes peeling much much easier, so just press down on the cloves using the
flat side of the knife, the peel should just fall off.
Place the cloves into a food processor or a blender.
Basil pesto is a great thing to make when your basil plant is starting to overgrow,
you can even make a larger batch of the pesto and freeze it.
Although, if you don’t have a basil plant you can easily just buy some fresh basil leaves.
You’ll need about two cups, but measurements don’t need to be exact so just loosely pack
it into a cup.
If you would like the recipe it will be listed in the information box below this video, as
well as on my website, just click the link on the screen now.
Basil pesto usually contains some type of nuts, most commonly pine nuts or walnuts.
For this recipe I’m using pine nuts but you can easily replace these with walnuts
or leave them out altogether.
If you are using pine nuts I like to buy the raw type and toast them myself.
Toast the nuts in a dry pan over medium heat.
This should only take a few minutes, you’ll know they’re ready when they become fragrant.
Remove the toasted nuts from the heat and place into the food processor with the garlic
and basil.
Since basil pesto is very simple, you really need good quality ingredients to shine through.
Instead of just using basic olive oil try to find some good quality extra virgin cold
pressed olive oil.
As you’re eating it raw you can really taste the difference in flavour between the two.
You’ll need about a quatre of a cup but I just eye ball it.
You can always add more later on.
Place the lid on the food processor and blend all of the ingredients together.
The last ingredients for the pesto is parmesan cheese.
Parmesan is quite a strong cheese so it adds a lot of flavour to the pesto.
The cheese can either be mixed in to the pesto by hand, or blended together in the food processor
depending on what texture you would prefer.
Grate the cheese and add to the pesto.
Blend together until well combined and set to the side while we prepare the pasta.
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and add a few generous pinches of salt to
season the water.
For this recipe I’m using angel hair pasta, otherwise known as capellini.
Its a very thin long pasta and cooks in just a few minutes which makes it very convenient.
You can use any other type of pasta you would prefer for this recipe, anything goes.
Before straining the pasta fill a mug with some of the starchy cooking water, you’ll
see why soon.
Cook the pasta until al dente so it still has a slight bite to it.
Strain in a colander and transfer into a bowl.
Start by adding about half of the basil pesto to the pasta, and toss together using tongs.
The pasta can get quite dry at this point which is why I reserved some of the starchy
cooking water.
Pour in about a quatre of a cup and toss together.
Starchy cooking water is the secret to creating the best pasta sauces, no matter what kind
you are making.
It loosens up the sauce and helps it sticky to the pasta.
Add in the remaining pesto and toss until everything is well coated.
Serve the basil pesto on a plate garnished with some freshly grated parmesan cheese and
basil leaves.
This pasta dish takes no time at all to make so it’s great for a weeknight dinner.
Play around with the ingredients, try adding some cherry tomatoes and shredded chicken
breasts.
The recipe will be in the information box below as well as on my website.
If you make this recipe, don’t forget to take a picture and share it with me, I love
seeing all of your recreations.
Take a look at this pumpkin soup video, or for more recipes take a look at my channel.
Thank you for watching and I will see you in my next video.
Bye!