quadratini freschi al pesto

May 28th, 2009

It is around one o’clock in the morning and I am writing this post with a dim light, relaxing mood and listening to the cinematic orchestra’s latest album. I have been busy (new design project) and around (milan-florence-rome). During the travel, I ate good food in good places, but I missed home food, as always. I made this few weeks ago, before things started to get too busy and it was just so comforting. I will make this again tomorrow, and now I will just share it with you :)

It was so sunny and I got this beautiful bunch of basil, that of course home made pesto came to my mind. Fresh egg pasta and thinly sliced new potato with couple of handful of baby spinach. Yum :)

Quadratini Freschi al Pesto - Fresh Square Egg Pasta with Pesto

Serves 2

125g fresh lasagna sheets, cut into 6 squares

A bunch of fresh basil leaves (as pictured above)

2 tbsp of pine nuts

4 tbsp Ligurian extra virgin olive oil

1/3 clove of garlic

A pinch of salt

25g of parmesan cheese, shaved or grated

2 handful of baby spinach, washed and drained

1 medium new potato, very thinly sliced

Parmesan, for grating

Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Boil a sauce pan large enough to cook the pasta.

Add basil leaves, pine nuts, shaved parmesan, salt, garlic and olive oil to food processor or use a hand blender. Blitz until smooth. Set aside.

When the water boils, add the sliced potato and boil for 4 minutes, add the pasta then add the baby spinach. Boil for another 4-5 minutes until the pasta is cooked. Remove from heat, drain the pasta and reserve some of the cooking water.

Add the pesto sauce and mix well, add the reserved cooking water if it is too thick.

Drizzle with a bit of extra virgin olive oil and grate some parmesan on top and eat immidiately.

Buon apetito! :)

PS: We even had abit of pesto sauce left over, I tossed it with some boiled potatoe and fresh fava beans the day after and it was great!

filed under: food, paaaaaaaasta