Sunday, June 19, 2011

Basil Pesto Pasta


Today I tried brown rice pasta for the first time. Unlike the nutty and slightly coarse whole wheat pasta, this pasta was light in taste and had the perfect texture and tasted a lot like the white flour pasta.

Brown Rice Shell Pasta - 1 cup (I used Tinkyada gluten free whole grain brown rice pasta)
Basil Leaves - 2 handfuls, reserve a couple of leaves for garnishing
Garlic Cloves - 4, grated
Pinenuts - 1 tbsp, lightly toasted
Pecorino Romano Cheese - 1 tbsp, grated and some more for garnishing
Green Chilli - 1
Olive Oil - 1 tbsp

Cook the pasta in water with lots of salt to the desired softness. Rinse with cold water, drain and keep aside. Reserve a cup of the pasta water. (Ideally we should cook the pasta and the sauce in such a way so that the noodles can be drained and directly added to the cooked sauce without waiting).

Add basil, garlic, pinenuts, green chilli, cheese and olive oil together and make a paste in the food processor or the grinder.

Mix the pesto with the pasta. If required add a little bit of the reserved pasta water. Add some shredded fresh basil leaves and grated cheese on top and serve with a side of salad.

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