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BASIL PESTO PASTA
PASTA PESTO

BASIL PESTO PASTA

If you want to prepare a perfect Italian pasta in few minutes, you have to try this fantastic Almond Basil Pesto!
This Pesto is a variant of the famous “Italian Genovese Pesto” made with garlic and pine nuts. The garlic's lack and the add of the almonds instead of the pine nuts, make it extremely dainty and refined.
If you like Italian dishes, you can't miss this recipe, it will be a great main dish for your guests and you can also boast to get the recipe from a true Italian cook!
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Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 10 mins
Total Time 20 mins
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Italian
Servings 3 Servings
Calories 300 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 20 g (1,5 oz) fresh basil leaves washed and dried
  • 50 g (1/2 cup - 2 oz) peeled almonds
  • 30 g (1/3 cup - 2 oz) Parmigiano Reggiano (or Parmesan) grated
  • 60 ml (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil
  • about 3 g 1/2 tsp salt
  • 300 g 10,5 oz spaghetti pasta or your favourite pasta
  • 15 g 2 tbsp almond slices for topping (optional)

Instructions
 

  • Place fresh basil leaves, salt, almonds, grated Parmigiano Reggiano and olive oil in the bowl of your food processor.
  • Process for few seconds until everything is well combined. Pesto has to be creamy, if it's too dense add some more extra virgin olive oil.
  • Cook spaghetti to al dente stage in salted boiling water. Stir often to avoid spaghetti to stick together.
  • Toast some almond slices in a non stick pan over high heat until they become golden brown (optional).
  • Reserve some of pasta’s cooking water, then drain spaghetti.
  • Place immediately the pasta in a hot pan, add pesto and a splash of reserved water to reach the desired creamy consistency and stir it.
  • Serve immediately with some freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and toasted almond slices.

Video

Notes

You can keep your Pesto in the fridge for some days or you can freeze it up to 3 months.

Hello, I am Valentina! Welcome to How Tasty!

I am an Italian girl in love with baking and cooking. I’ve been raised in a cooking family, baking since I was a little girl and learning from my mom and my professional chef grandma.

I created the Youtube channel How Tasty in 2017 to share with you my passion.

You don’t need to be a professional cook to follow all my recipes thanks to the video tutorials and the tips & hints you can find here.

Let’s cook!

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How Tasty - Valentina

Tips:

PASTA PESTO

One of the traditional italian secrets to make a great Pasta dish, is to always reserve some pasta’s cooking water and add it while you’re sauce your pasta: your pasta will turn out creamy and never dry!

PESTO

You can make a classic Genovese Italian pesto adding some garlic, substituting almonds with pine nuts adding some grated Pecorino cheese.

PASTA PESTO

Don’t add olive oil to your pasta boiling water! You just need to stir your pasta while is cooking to avoid that it sticks together: I usually stir it about 3 times while cooking.