Pesto is a wonderful thing. The strong punch of herbs is balanced with some garlic and parmesan cheese plus a bit of pine nuts for texture. Originating in the city of Genoa in Italy, the name of the sauce comes from the Italian verb “to pound” as this is how the dish was originally made, pounding or crushing it down with a mortar and pestle. Thankfully we have food processors now! This is a great spring or summer pasta dish. It’s a nice vegetarian dish and the basil forward flavor just fits with the warmer, garden season. Not to mention, pesto is a great way to use the huge bounty of basil you may have from the basil plants in your garden.
I make my pesto pretty traditionally. I add a little Italian parsley to the basil to add a little more herb accent to the pesto. I purée it in a food processor while slowly drizzling in the olive oil to emulsify and cream the sauce. I like it with penne as it’s an easy to come by pasta and the sauce clings nicely to the ridges and the hollow inside. Finishing the pasta with some warm pasta water brings it all together, helping the sauce to coat the noodles and melt the parmesan a little to cream the sauce even more.
Ingredients
1 lb dried penne pasta
3 cups whole basil leaves
¾ cup Italian parsley, roughly chopped, stems included
3 cloves of garlic
½ cup grated parmesan
¼ cup pine nuts
2 tbsp plus ¼ tsp salt
½ cup olive oil
1 lb dried penne pasta
3 cups whole basil leaves
¾ cup Italian parsley, roughly chopped, stems included
3 cloves of garlic
½ cup grated parmesan
¼ cup pine nuts
2 tbsp plus ¼ tsp salt
½ cup olive oil
We will begin by first making the pesto. Add the basil and parsley to a food processor and purée the herbs s little to chop them down to size. Do this in batches, if necessary. The herbs don’t need to be fully puréed at this point, just chopped into much smaller and finer pieces. Now add the garlic, parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Close the lid, begin pureeing the herb mixture, and slowly begin drizzling the olive oil into the food processor through the pour spout. The mixture will purée down and slowly emulsify as the olive oil is slowly drizzled. Once all of the olive oil has been added, purée until the mixture has the loose consistency. If your processor has no pout to drizzle the olive oil, then just add ⅛ cup at a time and purée. Reserve the finished pesto in a bowl while we made the pasta.
Fill a medium sized stock pot ½ to ⅔ of the way full with water. Bring to a simmer and then add 2 tablespoons of salt to ensure the water should is salty enough to flavor the pasta. Stir the water to make sure the salt is dissolved and then add in the dried penne once the water comes to a steady boil. Cook the penne for about 10-12 minutes, until it is al dente.
Once the penne is al dente, reserve a few ladlefuls of the pasta water in a small bowl and then drain the penne in a colander. Return the drained penne to the pot, and add the pesto. Stir the pesto through the pasta until the pasta is evenly coated. Add a ladle of the pasta water and stir the pasta more. The pesto will cream up and begin to glaze the penne. Add another ladle of the pasta water if necessary and continue to stir. The penne is ready when the pasta noodles are all evenly glazed with the now creamier pesto. Serve portions of the penne in pasta bowls and enjoy!