Cooking with the seasons is all about making the most of what
is available; walnuts with their caramel notes combined with
fresh, clean tasting parsley is a fantastic combination
drizzled over pasta.
Photo by Craig
Baxter.
Fresh pasta with walnut and parsley
pesto
Serves 4
Ingredients
200g spaghetti
salt
For the pesto
100g walnuts, fresh
1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
100g hard tasty cheese - parmesan or pecorino, grated
50g flat-leaf parsley leaves
About 150ml good olive oil
Juice of a lemon
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Firstly, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to the
boil.
To make the pesto, place the walnuts, cheese, garlic and
parsley leaves into a food processor and pulse to blend. With
the food processor on, drizzle in the oil and juice of lemon,
season lightly with salt and pepper and blend for a minute to
emulsify, taste once more and set aside until ready.
Cook the spaghetti as directed or until al dente (tender to
the bite), drain the pasta reserving cup of liquid. Spoon
over half the pesto and toss to combine; add 1-2 tablespoons
of the cooking water to loosen up the pesto and help give the
sauce a lovely gloss. If you think you need more pesto then
by all means add it until you are happy with the flavour.
Check for seasoning, and serve with extra cheese.
• Alison Lambert, chef at the Otago Farmers Market, will
demonstrate this recipe at the market on Saturday
morning.
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