pasta with creamy pesto

I have seen some establishments charge an upward of RM20 a plate for this shit. Well, this is how you do it for free (not technically free though, you still have to buy the ingredients).

Serving: 2 persons

Pasta (long type such as spaghetti, linguine or short one such as penne)

Half an onion, diced

Cooking cream

Pesto (store-bought at between RM11.90 to RM16.50, good luck if you wish to prepare it yourself though)

Shrimp

Mushroom (optional) (swiss-brown, shiitake, or white-button will do)

Tomato, diced

Two sticks of butter

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook your pasta to al dente (refer packet instruction for timing); drain and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Sweat your onion until tender over low heat, about 2-3 minutes. Increase the heat, stir in garlic and butter, and cook for about a minute until butter melts. Pour in the cooking cream, season with salt and pepper, and simmer until it is slightly reduced, stirring constantly (about 4 minutes). Stir in pesto. Add shrimp, mushrooms and tomatoes. Cook for about 4 minutes, or until heated thoroughly. Toss with pasta and serve immediately.

pesto

Nothing beats the taste and freshness of a home-made pesto. It it so easy and so universal, you can use it for any purpose and companion for any dish you could think of. Most people associated pesto with pasta and pasta only, when in reality, you can pair pesto with just about everything, roasted chicken, shellfish, bruschetta, fish, veal, steak, roated vegetables, jacket potato or with cheeses such as balls of Mozarella, the list is endless. You can make pesto in a food processor, or traditional pestle or mortar (i can attest that pounding pesto in pestle and mortar over time would results in a firm biceps and triceps!) Toast the pine nut lightly, though some would prefer to do them until they’re colored, which would develop a creaminess taste rather that nutty one.

Serves 4

1/2 a clove or garlic, chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 handfuls of fresh basil, leaves picked and chopped

a handful of pine nuts, very lightly toasted

a handful of Parmesan cheese

extra virgin olive oil

Pound the garlic with a little pinch of salt and basil in a pestle and mortar, or pulse in a food processor. Add the pine nuts and continue the pounding (or pulsing). Remove the mixture into a bowl and add half of the Parmesan. Stir and add the olive oil – you need just enough to bind the sauce and get it to an oozy consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then add the rest of the Parmesan and pour in some more oil and taste again. The key is getting it right to keep tasting and adding cheese or oil until you have the righ semi-wet but firm mixture. Optionally, you may add a squeeze of lemon juice at the end to have a little bit of acidic taste into the pesto, but it’s not essential.

** To have an authentic Genovese pesto, use pecorino Romano cheese, or Parmigiano-Reggiano instead of Parmesan. These type of hard sheep’s milk cheese, gives out a much strong flavour to the cheese. Unfortunately, both these cheese are considered an indulgence, expensive and such a rare variety that to-date, i have yet to find any grocery store (Tesco, Carrefour, Jusco, Cold-Storage, Isetan, or even Mercato) that actually have these cheese on their shelves.