Pasta with Basil Walnut Pesto

If you are in a hurry to fill your tummy, one of the easiest and quickest dishes is pasta. The best part is you can modify it in a million ways to suit your taste. First is the pasta type itself. You can either have a basic macaroni or penne pasta or linguini if you like or even a fancy pasta like the beautiful bow shaped farfalle. These days you can get pasta shaped like flowers and cars as well has multicolored ones at the supermarket. It all depends on what you have in your cupboard at the end of the day.

Types of Pasta

You can also vary what you add to the pasta. The pasta can be flavored with any choice of vegetables and sauces. The pasta discussed here is flavored with pesto. Pesto is a sauce made with the combination of crushed herbs and garlic along with nuts of your choice. It is as Italian as you can get and gives a real cultured feel to the pasta.

Ingredients

2 cups pasta

1 cup fresh basil leaves

1/3 cup walnut (or pine nuts)

2 garlic cloves

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

A handful of cherry tomatoes

1 tbsp vinegar

2 onions

Salt and pepper

 

Pasta with basil pesto served with garlic bread

First of all, boil the pasta in 2 cups of water till al dente. Alternatively you can boil the pasta in a pressure cooker also. Drain and keep aside.

Grind the basil leaves with the nuts and garlic cloves in a food processor to get a coarse mixture. Slowly add olive oil till you get a nice even blend. Add 1/4 cup parmesan cheese along with salt and pepper for taste and blend once again. Pesto is ready.

Chop the onions. Halve the cherry tomatoes if they are too big.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a skillet and add the onions. Saute till golden brown. Add the vinegar and the tomatoes. Saute for a couple of minutes. Add the pasta and mix with the pesto. Add salt and pepper. Saute for a couple more minutes. Garnish with parmesan cheese and drizzle olive oil on top. Serve hot with garlic bread.