Pesto Pasta

I have recently been to Italy and still am missing the amazing food. I was never a big fan of Italian food until I happened to taste it in Rome, Florence etc and I can tell you, I just fell in love with everything I ate! Even the Pizza! and Pesto Pasta!! Top two things I would always run away from.

So much so, that the moment I mentioned that it might be hard to replicate it in India, given that it's so difficult to find such high quality ingredients, my brother took an offence and ordered basil leaves when I was out of city. And ever since I came back, he has been pestering me to use them.

Anyway, Chef Kumar woke up today and decided precisely at 8 PM that we should make pesto sauce today. While the Parmesan was missing and needs to be added to the processor tomorrow, here is the recipe I used

Ingredients (depending on serving size you would like to choose) - though I can share upfront, that I chose the one in middle with 0.75 cup of basil leaves and let me tell you, that with my brother around, it will barely be enough for 2 people - leave alone 6.

And there are two methods - one without cream and other with one. I followed the one without cream. I think oil could be a lot less than what appeared in the recipe. For one serving, use ~100 gm pasta.

	Servings	1	2	3	4	5
Ingredients	Measure
Basil leaves	Cup	0.5	1.0	1.5	2	2.5
Parmesan	Cup	0.25	0.5	0.75	1	1.25
Pine nuts + Walnuts	Tbsp	2	4	6	8	10
Garlic	Gloves	0.7	1.3	2.0	2.7	3.3
Extra virgin olive oil	Cup	0.05	0.1	0.15	0.2	0.3
Heavy Cream	Cup	0.2	0.3	0.5	0.7	0.8
Salted Butter	Tbsp	0.7	1.3	2.0	2.7	3.3
Salt	To taste				I used 2 tsp
Pepper	To taste				1 used 1 tsp

METHOD 1 - Pesto cream sauce (this is inspired from the site - certifiedpastryaficianado)

1. Toast pine nuts and garlic (still in peel) in a small saute pan over medium heat for 1 minute. Remove garlic and roast pinenuts till they get dark golden brown, about 2 more minutes. 
2. Remove garlic from peel and place into food processor with basil leaves, Parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and salt and pepper to taste. Begin processing, drizzling in olive oil while it mixes. Set aside.
3. Add cream and salted butter to saute pan over medium-low heat and bring to a simmer, Add pesto and combine. Heat through for a minute or so until hot. Add pasta (al-dente) to pan 

METHOD 2 –  Basic Pesto sauce

1. Peel the garlic, then pound in a pestle and mortar with a pinch of sea salt.
2. Pick, roughly chop and add the basil leaves, then bash to a paste (or pulse in a food processor).
3. Add the pine nuts (very lightly toast first, if you like) to the mixture and pound again, then stir in half the Parmesan.
4. Drizzle in some oil – you need just enough to bind the sauce and get it to an oozy consistency.
5. Add most of the remaining cheese, then season to perfection with salt and black pepper. Have a taste, and keep adding a bit more cheese or oil until you are happy with the taste and consistency.

EDITS: So after completing the first attempt, realized that above ingredients definitely needed adjustments. Lesser oil, more basil, more pine nuts (I actually added walnuts apart from pine-nuts too - that really gave amazing flavor)  etc. You also do not need to use cream at all. And definitely Italian stomachs might be smaller but given Indian appetite, it's no way going to be able to serve so many people. Done all edits in table above

And the final look is as follows. Proud me!

Penne Arrabiata - Vegetarian Version

Living in middle of cooking legends at my home failed to pressurize me and the chef in me woke up today. So I decided to make the yummiest Penne Arrabiata in the world and I felt super proud of it till I spoke to my sister.  (Well,  one of the other reasons was that eons ago, I bought the pasta box and if I had not acted sooner, it may have soon hit it's expiry date).

Anyway, I called up my sister to share my accomplishment and she went ROFLing over to say.."but didi..it's the easiest dish to make in the entire world".

(While I do agree with her,) I will still not let my sense of pride go down and hence am sharing the version of Penne Arrabiata.

Ingredients:

• 250 gm Penne (Al dente) - I used wholewheat penne
• 6 Tomatoes (medium size, blanched, roughly chopped)
• 3 Onions (Finally chopped)
• 1/2 Cup Tomato Puree
• 3 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 4 Cloves Garlic (can put 1-2 more too, if you really like garlic)
• 1 Tbsp Oregano
• 1 Tbsp Red Chilli Flakes
• 1 Tbsp Parsley
• Half cup Parsley leaves
• Salt (to taste, I used 1 or 2 Tbsp may be. Ok put whatever! )

Method

1. Boil penne in plenty of boiling water with 2 Tbsp salt till al dente (I did that for approx 10 mins in the penne I had). Drain and set aside to cool.While it's getting cooled, you may want to add 1 Tsp of olive oil and toss very lightly so that the penne doesn't stick with each other
2. Heat olive oil in pan. Put garlic and saute it for 30 secs
3. Put red chilli flakes and onions (on medium heat). Cook till onions are translucent
4. Keep the flame on medium heat. Put tomatoes, tomato puree, salt, oregano and parsley powder. Let this cook for 8-10 mins. Add parley leaves (save some for garnish). For fans of cheese,you can also add grated Parmesan cheese
5. Add penne slowly and toss lightly. 
6. Remove from heat, add parsley leaves as garnish (and more Parmesan - actually you can add as much as you want)  and serve hot!