Fettucine in Pesto Sauce

Yesterday I went crazy (read: shopping) at the Crawford Market with my best friend who has come down from New Zealand for a visit.

Shopping at Crawford Market yesterday!

I got a lot of fresh herbs - parsley, Italian basil and Thai basil, quality cheeses - Kraft Cheddar and Kraft grated Parmesan, pasta - Fettucine, sauces- Thai Sweet Chilly Sauce and Hershey's chocolate sauce, and Morde's dark and white chocolate compound from there without putting a big dent in my wallet. And now comes the best part... menu planning and cooking it all!

I picked up two packets of Italian basil for making (surprise surprise) my favourite pesto sauce. I also found the Fettucine (flat noodle pasta) that I have been looking for for quite some time and decided to put the two together into a quick pasta dish for a late lunch today - Fettucini in Pesto Sauce.

Fettucine in Pesto Sauce

Fettucine in Pesto Sauce

Fettucine in Pesto Sauce

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

 For the Pasta

250gms Fettucine pasta (if you can't find it Spaghetti or Fusilli will do just as well)

2 litres water

1 tsp salt

For the Pesto Sauce

20-25 leaves Italian basil (2 packets)

5 walnuts deshelled

5 cloves of garlic

2 tbsps olive oil 

1 tbsp grated Parmesan (optional)

For the Final Dish

2 tbsps olive oil

Cooked pasta

2 tbsps pesto sauce

30 ml milk (optional)

30 ml cream (optional)

Salt to taste

2 tsps grated Parmesan to garnish (optional)

Method

Cooking the Pasta

Put the pasta to cook first as it takes the longest to cook. Add the salt to the water and bring it to a boil. 

Put the pasta in and let it cook for 9-11 minutes on the high flame till it is al dente (basically just underdone such that it sticks to the teeth while chewing). Drain and keep.

Pesto Sauce

For making the pesto sauce, first grind the walnuts and the garlic in the mixer. The walnuts will break down faster and better this way so that you don't have to keep grinding for long or risk having chunks of walnuts in it. 

Put in the Italian basil next and grind till the leaves break down to a chutney-like texture. 

If you like the Parmesan cheese and are adding it now would be a good time to do it. Blitz till it is incorporated into the rest of the mixture.

Add in the olive oil last and blitz till it all comes together into a smooth paste.

You can store this in the refrigerator for at least two weeks if you have additional pesto. It makes for a good sandwich spread.

The Final Dish

Heat the olive oil in a pan. 

Put in the cooked pasta.

Add in the pesto sauce and salt and stir well till it coats all the pasta.

You can serve now with grated Parmesan cheese or add in the milk and cream if you wish it creamier. 

Fettucine in Pesto Sauce garnished with Grated Parmesan

I served it with my favourite Tomato Mozzarella Salad to make it a complete meal! It took 30 minutes and was a wonderful break from dal-chawal-roti-sabzi!

My lunch today!

Tomato and Basil Soup

I was watching a food travel show focussed on Italy and on it I heard a celebrated Italian chef call tomato, basil and garlic the 'Holy Trinity' of Italian cooking. Since I love Italian cooking so much, I wondered what can I do to combine these flavours? I thought of making it into a soup, and tried it for the first time today. Now I know why tomato, basil and garlic are called the 'Holy Trinity' of Italian cooking. They make for such a great combination!

Tomato and Basil Soup served hot!

Tomato and Basil Soup

Ingredients

2 tbsps olive oil
8-10 cloves of garlic chopped
5 medium tomatoes diced
2 cups water
4-5 leaves of fresh Italian basil finely chopped
Salt to taste

Method

In a pan heat the oil. Add the chopped garlic and saute till it turns golden brown. To the garlic, add the diced tomatoes and cook till they soften a little and release their juices.

Add in water and salt to the tomatoes and cover and cook till the tomatoes cook through. Blend this cooked mixture in a mixer or food processor till it forms a puree. Strain to get your soup.

Bring the strained mixture to a boil, turn off the heat and then add in the Italian basil.

Serve hot with some croutons or just as it is!

Easy Peasy Spaghetti

I love mid-week holidays, like the one I had today. They are more fun when I have the right ingredients in my refrigerator to cook up a storm! Today, was one such great day. I had some fresh Italian basil in my refrigerator and I managed to use it up in a few dishes. I will be posting all the recipes soon!

The first recipe I cooked again was the Easy Peasy Spaghetti. I have always liked the flavour of garlic, fresh Italian basil and olive oil together; I have used it in the Italian Style Tomato and Mozzarella Cheese Salad as a fantastic dressing. So I thought, why not use it to make a very basic pasta. I chose spaghetti simply because I like how you can eat it by twirling it all around the fork! The dish got great reviews, and it became one of my favourites to cook too. The best part about this dish, apart from its easy recipe, is that it tastes great when cold too and can make for a very good tiffin recipe for kids. 

Easy Peasy Spaghetti

Easy Peasy Spaghetti

Ingredients

100 grams spaghetti 

3-4 tbsps olive oil

10 cloves of garlic finely chopped

7-8 leaves of fresh Italian basil finely chooped

Salt to taste

Method

Cook the spaghetti as per the instructions on the packet. These vary for different brands so you can rely on the packet instructions as your best guideline. Drain the water and keep aside.

Heat the olive oil. Add in the garlic and fry till they turn reddish brown. Now add the cooked spaghetti and the salt and mix well. Lastly, add in the basil leaves, turn off the heat and mix them in.

Serve hot with a drizzle of olive oil in traditional Italian style!

Easy to cook and full of flavour!

P.S: Italian basil has a sharp flavour when raw but it turns sweeter on cooking. So add it last to the dish and turn off the heat immediately after adding the basil. The basil will lose some of its raw sharpness in the heat that remains in the dish, but will not become too sweet such that it will not go well with the garlic. 

Spaghetti in Red Sauce

Dig your fork in, twirl it till the noodles are well wrapped around it... open your mouth wide and in goes this treat for the taste buds!

Dig, twirl and eat!

Spaghetti in Red Sauce

Ingredients

100 grams spaghetti cooked as per packet instructions

2 tsbps olive oil

7-8 garlic cloves finely chopped

1 medium onion finely chopped

6-7 whole peppercorns

2-3 bay leaves

3 medium tomatoes pureed 

4 tbsps tomato ketchup

2 tsps oregano or mixed herbs

4-5 black olives sliced

Salt to taste

The ingredients lined up

Method

In a pan heat the olive oil, add the garlic, the onions and the peppercorns and bay leaves and sautee till the onions turn pink.

The garlic and onions being sauteed

Once the onions are pink, add in the tomato puree and let it cook. To this add the oregano or mixed herbs and the ketchup and salt. 

The sauce in its final stage

Toss in the spaghetti and mix it well with the prepared sauce.

Spaghetti in the sauce

Garnish with the sliced black olives and serve hot!

Spaghetti in Red Sauce