Penne pasta in Basil Pesto Sauce

Basil pesto sauce - it is my favorite pasta sauce and any mention to it makes my mouth water! It is incredibly simple to prepare this recipe and once you give this a try - you will NEVER go back to buying store bought canned pesto sauce again... I promise!! So without wasting anymore of your time, let me take you over the ingredients and super simple process.

Do give this a try and let me know your feedback in the comments section below. Happy cooking!!

Ingredients:

• To make the Pesto Sauce
• 2 cups Fresh Basil
• ¹/₂ cup Pine Nuts - roasted
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• ¹/₄ cup + 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 cup Parmiggino Reggiano (adjust to taste) - finely grated
• Salt & Pepper - to taste
• To make the Pasta
• ¹/₂ lb Penne Pasta
• Water
• Salt

Method:

• To make the Pesto Sauce
• Wash & dry the basil. You can use the stem that comes with the leaves as it contains a lot of flavor too.
• In a food processor, add basil, roasted pine nuts, garlic, salt and pepper. Process it until it becomes a smooth paste. Add the oil and process it to incorporate it evenly. 
• Remove the paste into a bowl and mix in the parmiggino reggiano. At this point, you can taste it and adjust the seasonings if necessary.
• To make the pasta, boil the pasta as per packaged instructions - make sure to season well with salt as this is the only time your pasta will have to absorb any seasonings; when done, reserve about 2 cups of water and drain the pasta.
• Mix the pesto sauce with the pasta and add the reserved pasta water (¹/₂ cup at a time) until the sauce is coated well on the pasta and it doesn't feel dry.

Serving Suggestions:

Serve with garlic bread; homemade or store bought - your choice :)..

Garnish with grated parmiggiano reggiano when serving for extra oomph! (i.e. if you don't mind the extra calories...)

Bow-tie Pasta in Artichoke and Sun-Dried Tomato flavored Pesto

Pasta for our family is the quick and easy go-to comfort food that is both easy and quick to cook and needs very few ingredients. Quick recipe that can be prepared within 30 min... Who doesn't like that?

The sun-dried tomatoes and marinaded artichoke hearts bring in a lovely tangy flavor to the dish which gets well balanced with the usual basil-pesto flavor. End result is just divine! If you like pesto, I bet you'll like this too.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Bow-tie (Farfalle) pasta
• ³/₄ cup Pine Nuts - roasted
• ¹/₄ cup Walnuts - roasted
• 4 oz. Fresh Basil Leaves (approx. 2 cups)
• 1 - 10 oz. can of Sun-Dried Tomatoes
• 1 ¹/₄ cup Marinaded Artichoke Hearts
• 1 tsp Garlic - minced
• 1 tsp Dried Oregano
• 1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
• Ground Black Pepper - to taste
• Salt - to taste
• 1 cup Parmigiano Reggiano - freshly grated (Traditionally pasta dishes are incomplete without cheese in them but since this was loaded with nuts and olive oil, I didn't use it in my preparation).
• Water - to boil the pasta

Method:

• To make the sauce:
• Add the pine nuts, walnuts, basil leaves, sun-dried tomatoes, marinaded artichoke hearts, garlic, dried oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper (Reserve 4-5 pieces of tomatoes and ¹/₄ cup of artichoke hearts for later use) to a food processor and process until well combined. Make sure you use all the oil from the can of sun-dried tomatoes (you'll not need any extra oil)
• To cook the pasta:
• Boil water in a pot and add a generous amount of salt to it (remember this is the only seasoning opportunity your pasta has and not all salt that you add to the water will get absorbed by the pasta). I also like to add about a tsp of oil to the water while it is boiling - this helps in the pasta not sticking to each other when you drain them.
• Cook the pasta for about 10-12 min (or as per your package's instructions). Our family likes it cooked thru but you can remove it sooner or later depending on your liking.
• Drain the pasta (reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water to use during our final step).
• Dice the reserved tomatoes and artichoke hearts. In a pan, roast the tomatoes and artichoke hearts for about 30 sec. Add the sauce and the drained pasta and half of the reserved pasta water. Stir to combine (add more of the pasta water as required).

Serving Suggestion:

The pasta goes well with nicely toasted garlic bread but can be relished just by itself too! :-)
Enjoy!!

Spaghetti with garlic and olive oil (Spaghetti aglio e olio)

Spaghetti Aglio e olio in Italian simply means spaghetti with olive oil and garlic.. It is a delight for all garlic lovers and takes very less time to put together! 

Ingredients:

• Spaghetti pasta - ¹/2 lb. 
• Water - to boil spaghetti 
• Olive Oil - 2 tbsp
• Pine nuts (toasted) - 1 ¹/2 tbsp
• Garlic thinly sliced - 1 ¹/₂ tsp
• Black pepper to taste
• Salt to taste
• Garnishing
• Parsley - 1 tbsp

Method:

• In a big pot, bring water to boil. Add  spaghetti pasta and sprinkle generous amount of salt (remember this is the only chance your pasta gets to absorb the seasoning)
• In a flat pan, add the olive oil and garlic. Let the garlic turn golden brownish (this will help infuse the garlic flavor in the oil) stirring occasionally. 
• Now add the pine nuts and stir it for  about a minute or until the pine nuts turn lightly golden. 
• Now add the cooked pasta and season with salt and pepper. 
• Garnish with parsley and serve hot 
• Enjoy!!

Serving Suggstions:
I like to eat this pasta just as is (yummy garlic..) 

Nonetheless, any breadstick/cheesy toast/Garlic toast/bread will go well with this

Enjoy!!

Bruschetta

Ingredients:

• Baguette
• 2 cup Tomatoes - pulp removed and medium diced
• ¹/₃ cup basil leaves - rolled and cut horizontally into thin stripes 
• ¹/₂ cup finely diced onion
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil (and some extra to brush on the bread)
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Method:

• In a bowl, mix the tomatoes, basil leaves, onion and olive oil. Season with salt & pepper. If you don't like the taste of raw onion, feel free to omit it... This recipe tastes equally amazing without the onions too!
• Let this mixture marinade for about 20-25 minutes (this helps infuse the flavor of olive oil, salt and pepper into the veggies)
• Preheat the oven to 350 F
• Cut the baguette into slices diagonally (at a 45 degree angle) about ¹/₂ to ³/₄ inches thick
• Lay the slices onto a baking sheet (single layer)
• Brush them with olive oil, sprinkle some salt and spread about a pinch of minced garlic
• Bake them for about 5 minutes (or until your desired crispiness)
• On each slice, spread about a tablespoonful tomato mixture and serve! If you are having a party over, you can also leave the slices separately on a plate and the tomato mixture in a bowl and allow your guests to help themselves!

Enjoy!!

Tomato Basil Mozzarella Panini

Tomato Basil Mozzarella Panini - as the name suggests is made with thick slices of tomatoes & mozzarella and few leaves of basil between slices of ciabatta bread. Although it sounds simple, the tomato and basil combination brings in wonderful flavors. And who doesn't like mozzarella? 

Do give this recipe a try and share your feedback in the comments section below! Happy cooking!!

Ingredients:

• Ciabatta bread slices (about ¹/₃ inch thick)
• Handful of fresh basil leaves
• Tomato slices (approx. ¹/₄ inch thick)
• Mozzarella cheese slices (approx. ¹/₈ inch thick)
• Salt & ground black pepper to taste
• Extra virgin olive oil - to brush on the outside for crisp grilling

Method:

• Paninis are best prepared using ciabatta (pronounced as CHI-BA-TTA) bread but you can use sourdough or flatbread too 
• Switch on your griddle/panini press. If your griddle is one layer like this, you'll need to put some weight on it in order to get the grill marks.  
• Brush olive oil on one side of all the bread slices
• Lay it upside down (the side brushed with olive oil on the bottom side)
• 1^st layer, arrange mozzarella slices on the bread slice (count of slices needed will depend on the size of your cheese slice and the size of your bread... But layer enough to cover the whole bread); season with salt & pepper
• 2^nd layer, arrange the tomatoes slices over the cheese layer (again, count of slices you'd need would vary); season again with salt & pepper 
• 3^rd layer, arrange the basil leaves over the tomatoes
• 4^th layer, arrange mozzarella cheese again and season with salt & pepper
• Cover with a bread slice (the side brushed with olive oil stays on top
• Grill until crisp (approx. 5 minutes)

Serving suggestion:

Serve hot with mayonnaise and/or ketchup and a few pieces of pickles!

Enjoy!

Spaghetti pasta cooked in home-made marinara sauce

For the marinara sauce

Ingredients:

• 1¹/₂ cup finely diced onion
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes
• ¹/₄ cup roughly chopped basil
• 1¹/₂ tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Method:

• In a sauce-pan, add olive oil, onion, garlic and half of basil and saute on medium-high heat until onion is translucent. Season with salt (not for tomatoes yet, only for the quantity in the pan). Adding garlic & basil initially along-with the onion helps infuse their flavor really well.
• Add the crushed tomatoes, remaining basil, red pepper flakes, dried oregano and ground black pepper. Do not forget to check your can of crushed tomatoes to see if they already have salt, because if your tomatoes are already salted, you might want to taste your sauce before you add any more salt to the pan! If not, go ahead and season your pan with salt appropriate to the quantity of tomatoes you just added
• Cook on medium low heat for about 15-20 minutes; cover your pan with a lid when the sauce starts bubbling up. You can also reduce the heat if need be. 

Note - When stored in an airtight container, the sauce stays in the refrigerator for about a month!

For the pasta

Ingredients:

• ¹/₃ lb. of spaghetti pasta (I have chosen spaghetti but this basic recipe goes well with any pasta)
•  Boiling water
• Salt
• Finely chopped parsley to garnish

Method:

• Bring a big pot of water to boil; when the  water comes to a boil, add a generous quantity of salt. Remember not all salt added to the water will be infused in your pasta; also, this is the only chance your pasta has to get seasoned!
• Add your pasta and cook per the instructions on your package (it usually takes about 10 minutes). To check if it is cooked, you can also pull out a spaghetti strand while it is cooking and break a strand to see if it has cooked completely. 
• Once done, drain out the water and add 2-3 ladles of the sauce and mix together. You can vary the sauce quantity to your liking!
• Garnish with parsley. You can also garnish with some freshly grated parmigiano reggiano (aka. Parmesan cheese)

Enjoy!!