I love Italian food and here is one of my favorite and simple to make recipe.
Ingredients
For making pesto
1/2 cup (120 ml) olive oil
1/2 cup (50 g) grated Parmesan cheese
3 medium garlic cloves, peeled
2 cups (80 g) fresh basil leaves
3 tablespoons (25 g) pine nuts
3 Thai chilies * or fresh ground pepper
salt to taste
* the recipe calls for pepper but I wanted to give it a spicy kick to it. You can use fresh ground pepper if you like it less spicy .
Vegetables ( in desired quantities)
Procedure:
1) Bring water to boiling temperature and add pasta (I used whole grain which takes little longer before it turns soft ) and little salt . Cook the pasta without the lid until it's soft.
2) Mix all the pesto ingredients in a food processor in the order listed above except salt and pepper (if used) to make a smooth paste and keep aside
3) Prepared pesto sauce should be thick in consistency, to get to this texture put the prepared sauce in a sauce pan and simmer it till it becomes a smooth paste (just like store bought tomato paste) or if you are using vitamix or blendtec blend it on high for 1min until you get the desired consistency.
4) In a pan, saute all the veggies except olives and add the drained pasta and pesto paste and mix well
5) Garnish with parmesan cheese and fresh ground pepper and serve
Ingredients
For making pesto
1/2 cup (120 ml) olive oil
1/2 cup (50 g) grated Parmesan cheese
3 medium garlic cloves, peeled
2 cups (80 g) fresh basil leaves
3 tablespoons (25 g) pine nuts
3 Thai chilies * or fresh ground pepper
salt to taste
* the recipe calls for pepper but I wanted to give it a spicy kick to it. You can use fresh ground pepper if you like it less spicy .
Vegetables ( in desired quantities)
- Mushrooms, diced
- Diced tomatoes (2 small ones)
- Red Capsicum , diced
- Green bell pepper, diced
- Green olives
- Red olives
- Broccoli, cut into small florets
- Baby corn
Procedure:
1) Bring water to boiling temperature and add pasta (I used whole grain which takes little longer before it turns soft ) and little salt . Cook the pasta without the lid until it's soft.
2) Mix all the pesto ingredients in a food processor in the order listed above except salt and pepper (if used) to make a smooth paste and keep aside
3) Prepared pesto sauce should be thick in consistency, to get to this texture put the prepared sauce in a sauce pan and simmer it till it becomes a smooth paste (just like store bought tomato paste) or if you are using vitamix or blendtec blend it on high for 1min until you get the desired consistency.
4) In a pan, saute all the veggies except olives and add the drained pasta and pesto paste and mix well
5) Garnish with parmesan cheese and fresh ground pepper and serve
