Pesto Pasta

Pesto is one of those sauces that has been around forever. I remember as a kid I thought it was the epitome of being fancy to have pesto on my bowl of pasta. It’s also one of those sauces that you can easily buy at the store but takes so little time to make at home. Plus, it freezes so that’s awesome!

The best pesto I’ve ever eaten was in Cinque Terre, Italy on my honeymoon. This was sixteen years ago and still, it’s the best. Mike and I had spent a week in Lake Como and were looking forward to being in another dreamy Italian locale. Our arrival in Cinque Terre was one of the best ever. Keep in mind this was back before everyone had a smartphone in their pocket (iPhones hadn’t been invented yet). We had printed out confirmations because again, no phones. Oh, and we had an actual digital camera!!

We arrived in Vernazza on a milk train on a perfectly sunny afternoon. As we strolled into town we started to look for our bed and breakfast (we love staying in them rather than hotels). If you’ve ever been to Europe you know how maddening it is to find your way around. The streets end in the strangest spots and start again a few blocks later. After we’d walked basically the entire town we finally decided to ask someone. I speak a fair amount of (kitchen) Spanish so I asked a shopkeeper if she too spoke Spanish which she did. I showed her the confirmation email and she pointed to the top of the mountain. She graciously called the owner for us and told her we’d be late.

Somehow I managed to understand we would need to take a bus to the top of this mountain that was looking back at me. The towns of Cinque Terre are right on the water and they sit at the bottom of these steep, green, tiered mountains that appear to rise out of the sea. My American self was picturing a normal size bus on a nice, wide-open road with maybe a few switchbacks but manageable. Nope. Teeny bus, even tinier road.

We waited with a bunch of other old Italian men under an awning in front of a local salumeria. All of a sudden a tiny bus started barreling towards us but backward. These old guys didn’t bat an eyelash but Mike and I thought we were going to be crushed by the rogue tiny bus. The roof of the bus hit the awning, stopped, and out pops what looks to be a 14-year-old boy; the bus driver.

We boarded the bus and sat all the way in the back row with another Australian couple. It was packed, people were standing in the aisles and I couldn’t see out the front of the bus but I could see out the side. The vistas were stunning and the road was really steep. I’m pretty sure this kid floored the gas and I was convinced the entire ride that we were going to plummet off the side of the cliff. There was a white line where the road met the mountain but I couldn’t see it the whole drive. Finally, after dropping some people along the way we made it to the top.

We meandered our way through this gorgeous town and found our B&B. By this point, we were both starving and there was one restaurant in this town. We sat at a table with crisp, white linen and were given hand-written menus, in Italian. I was able to understand most of it and we had one of the most delicious meals of our lives that night. Pesto is native to this part of Italy; it’s from Liguria and we were there overlooking the Ligurian Sea. We ate pasta and focaccia (also from this region), I had fish, Mike had prawns. We sat, ate, drank, and talked about our adventure from the day. And still, that pasta is what I think about.

So, when my daughter requested pesto I obliged her. She is a picky eater but when she asks for something out of the blue like this and with so much flavor you better believe I’m making it. I busted out my trusty “Best Recipes” cookbook and made pesto. It’s so easy and takes about 15-20 minutes.

Pesto Pasta

Recipe from Cook’s Illustrated Best Recipe

Ingredients

2 C packed, fresh basil

1/4 C parmesan cheese

1/2 C pine nuts

7 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 garlic cloves, unpeeled

1 tsp salt

1 pound of your favorite pasta

Method

*Roast pine nuts in a dry pan over medium heat until golden and toasty. About 3-5 minutes. Remove to a plate to cool.

*To the same pan, add the unpeeled garlic cloves. Toast until a bit charred on the sides, flipping occasionally. About 5-7 minutes, let cool.

*Meanwhile add your basil to a ziploc bag. Seal it and pound with a meat mallet or rolling pin. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. If you don’t bruise the basil the pesto will be grassy.

*Add basil, toasted pine nuts, cooled garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, and olive oil to a food processor. Process until smooth, scraping down the sides once or twice.

*Turn out into a bowl and add the parmesan cheese.

*At this point if you are not using it right away put plastic wrap directly onto the sauce so no air gets in and refrigerate.

*Cook your pasta according to the package directions. Before draining reserve 1/2 C of pasta water.

*Drain the pasta and add to a large bowl.

*Add 1/4 C pasta water & 1/2 tsp pesto to pasta and stir to combine. If it’s still too thick add more pasta water.

*Grate more parmesan on top and eat!