It couldn't be that difficult, plus cilantro was 4 for $1.00 at Seafood City so...
this was my first attempt at Cilantro Pesto Pasta. I looked up a few recipes online and cobbled together one with the ingredients I had on hand...
The most tedious part for me was washing, drying, and picking the leaves off the cilantro to make two full cups. I ended up eyeballing it.
You "whizz" the cilantro leaves, nuts, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper flakes together first, then add the olive oil...
My blender is so damn old so I had to keep stopping it and poke the ingredients around with a spoon.
Aah, yes, that's what it's supposed to look like.
I saved the pasta water and used it to thin out the cilantro pesto. For this recipe, I used the bowties.
Such a pretty light green color. I planned on using either chicken breast or salmon for the protein, supplemented with the vegetables Bert steamed the other night (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots). It ended up being chicken.
The garlic was a bit too strong so if I make this again, I will use roasted garlic instead of raw. I think the roasted flavor will give it another dimension.
Cilantro Pesto Pasta
Ingredients:
1 lb of pasta (I used farfalle)
6 cloves of garlic, peeled
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cups fresh cilantro leaves, stemmed
1 dash of hot pepper flakes
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
lemon juice
sea salt and black pepper to taste
Directions:
Boil pasta according to package directions
Put all of the ingredients (except the olive oil) in the blender.
Pulse until all ingredients are well blended.
Add in the olive oil slowly.
You may add more oil if needed.
You can also thin out the pesto by using a tiny bit of the reserved pasta water.
I added a bit of lemon juice towards the end.
Season with salt and pepper to your liking.
Some variations of the recipe I saw called for macadamia nuts, blanched almonds and even pecans. Another recipe called for diced Serrano chile, another red onion. I liked the addition of the lemon juice since it brightened up the flavors.
The pasta looks really pretty and I can't wait to do this recipe again but with a thin, flat noodles instead!
4 comments:
Haha, I always eyeball leaves and things - basil, cilantro, parsley, whatever. Too much work to try and measure it out! Looks tasty - I love the green color!
It's so much easier isn't it? Who has the time to measure out 2 cups of damn leaves???!!!!
haha you crack me up! measuring is for the birds.
Anal birds!
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