The first time I ever made pesto pasta was at a friend’s place a few years ago. He had fresh Italian basil leaves growing in his campus, all green, healthy and beautiful. That was the first time I also realized it is possible to grow Italian basil in Indian soil as well.
So we grabbed some fresh basil from the garden and went home to make some spaghetti with pesto. The results absolutely amazed me! I had no idea something so simple could taste so good!
The traditional recipe for pesto is combining basil with pine nuts. Since it is almost impossible to find pine nuts at a regular store in India, we decided to go with walnuts. My friend dry-roasted some walnuts and ground it along with the fresh basil, garlic, salt, and olive oil. Now that was a magical combination.
It has been a couple of years since I got exposed to pesto and I have adapted it into my life quite well. I end up making pesto almost every fortnight. To be honest, it is one of my favorite dinner recipes. It is especially great on those tiring days where you want to get done with dinner in 15 minutes. Trust me, it will become your favorite too.
Preparation time – 15 minutes
Cook time – 20 minutes
Serves – 2 to 3 people
Ingredients
- 500 g Italian basil leaves
- 12 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 500 g penne pasta
- 200 g walnuts
- 80 g garlic
- 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper powder
- 100 g grated parmesan cheese
- Salt to taste
Directions
- Cook the penne as per package instructions till al dente. You can also use any kind of pasta like fusilli, spaghetti or fettuccine.
- Dry roast the walnuts in a pan. Do not burn them. The roasting will help the walnuts from turning bitter in the final pesto sauce.
- In a grinder, put the washed basil leaves, salt, garlic cloves, and olive oil. Blend this together till you get a fine and thick paste.
- In a pot, add the cooked pasta. Pour the pesto on top and give it a good stir, making sure every strand of the pasta is covered in the pesto sauce. Make sure you don’t cook the pesto so remove the pot from the stove when you do this step.
- Garnish with black pepper powder and grated parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.
This pesto pasta is such a simple and classic dish. I hope you try it and enjoy it as much as I do. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me with a comment or we can connect on Instagram or Facebook.
Want more such pasta recipes? Find them all here – https://bit.ly/2vXeBFt
Happy cooking!
