For tonight's dinner I am making a special dose of Pesto for some friends who were kind enough to supply the important Pine nuts (or as I call them pignoli) for this delicious yet simple dinner. To start this off you need 5-8 cloves of garlic (you decide how strong you want it, and about a good handful and a half (3/4 of a cup for you exact measurers) of Pine nuts. For added depth of flavor toast the pine nuts in the oven or over an open flame.
Next we need some bailico (aka basil), probably the most important part of the recipe. For this you rather get more than less so dont skimp on grabbing that extra bag/handfull. Make sure the leaves are nice and plump and not dull, brown and flimsy. Freshness supersedes all!!!
So you're going to want to start chopping up the cloves of garlic and the pine nuts first to make a paste along with a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Once that is nice and incorporated its time to add some basil leaves. In my processor I needed to add a little at a time along with the proper amount of olive oil. This will be a personal journey as the amounts differ per location and ingredients. Eventually you'll process it all down to look like this cup of beautifulness. All the while tasting and adding salt and pepper along the way. And that is pretty much it for the "sauce" of the dish.
Next for the pasta. I forgot to take an image of the farfalle I used but instead took a picture of some penne I have instead. This particular brand, which I found at CK's market, is an excellent pasta from Puglia, the land of my Nonna. I highly recommend it to anybody on the island looking for a good brand of pasta for a cheap price. You cook the pasta for about 8-10 minutes, making sure its just 'al dente'. As I mentioned to my friends this evening, the old Italian grandmothers dont even need to taste the pasta to know that its ready, all it takes is a flick of the rist from a wooden spoon to tell.
And now for the tantalizing torture section of the blog. Slowly incorporate the pesto little by little. You don't want to misappropriate the jar of goodness now would you?
I had a trick to get the rest of the pesto out of the container I was using. Since you don't want to let it go into the bottom of the sink, I took a couple of the bow-ties and sloshed it around the glass until it was coated with deliciousness. 
Throw in a handfull of graded cheese. In this instance I used a blend of pecorino romano, parmigiano reggiano and some nice imported asiago cheese into the mix. It came out to about 2/3 of a cup of cheese. (mind the use of salt in the sauce since cheese is salty and makes up for the taste).
Eccolà! There it is the beauty on the table. I threw some small basil leaves on top for added garnish along with my blend of cheese. 
My friends Josh and Constantine even grilled up some fresh Tuna for us as well which was an added piatti secondi! They prepared it simply and deliciously on the grill on their rooftop. It was a truly filling meal that gave us the 'itis', if you know what I mean. Definitely a treat, thanks guys!
And lastly I wanted to add in a special and important meal enjoyed today from two very special sous chef's, Lia and Elian along with my roomate Tessa who helped us make a delicious Tiramisù. I taught Tessa how to make it so she can pass it on to her family and many more...Buon Appetito!
No comments:
Post a Comment