Pesto (Spaghetti)

“Let’s speed this up”-recipe

I always find that if my son helps, he enjoys eating what we cooked up. This pesto has become a classic dish in our house. I made my toddler believe that it is only as good as it is because it is his special recipe with a secret ingredient (it isn’t secret, but he doesn’t know that). It is perfect because all it takes is throwing some ingredients together, mix them and you are done.

What you need is a big bunch of fresh basil and a the same amount of rucola (which is often mistaken as a lettuce, but is a herb, did you know?), 2 cloves of garlic, about 300g of parmesan, 80g of roasted pine nuts, fresh red chili (or not), black pepper, salt (or not) and nutmeg. Oh, and lots of extra virgin olive oil. And of course Spaghetti (those I bought), 500g. It will take you 20 minutes and will feed 3.5 people for 2 meals easy.

Start off with roasting your pine nuts in a small pot medium heat. Make sure they don’t burn. As they are roasting, grab your mixer. Now my boy can throw the basil and the rucola into the blender while I cut some chili and throw it in. I use just a tiny little bit so that the baby can eat it.

I let my son cut some chunks of parmesan. I make him cut them as small as he can, he likes a challenge. He doesn’t know that it really doesn’t matter as all goes into the mixer. Your pine nuts are roasted, so take them off the heat and let cool down.

Now is probably a good time to start boiling some 5 liters of water in a large pot while my toddlers tries to zest the two lemons into the mixer. Then I cut the two lemons in half and let him squeeze them out. Now, have him throw the pine nuts into the mixer, add the lemon juice, the two garlic cloves, pepper and salt (I actually do not use salt, the parmesan is salty enough and I want to keep it baby friendly – matter of taste though). Add a bit of nutmeg. And your olive oil, a lot, like 4 tablespoons at least. I think that was everything.

Put your mixer together. Now comes the boy’s favorite part! He loves to watch himself mix all ingredients into what he knows and loves as “green sauce”. While he does that, I grate some more parmesan and chop some more chili to put on the table. Once he is done, he likes to take a little spoon to try and pretend that something is missing. He will tell me whatever it is and I add it (or pretend to, if not really needed). When he is happy, he takes another spoon to have his mom try his product and then shower in compliments.

Throw the sauce in a small pot (I use the same I roasted the pine nuts in, unwashed. Add more olive oil and simmer the pesto. This is important to bring all the ingredients together and make it creamy.

At the same time as your simmering the pesto, your pasta water should boil. Add a lot of salt (at least a handful) and throw in the Spaghetti. Cook them as long as the package suggests, but keep trying them every so often. You want them al dente, meaning with a bite, not overcooked. Don’t ever cover the pot and don’t let the boiling stop at any point. Put all your focus on the Spaghetti, you can’t be too careful, you want to hit the sweet spot. I try at least 5 times during Spaghetti cooking.

When they are done, drain them, but try to keep at least 2 cm of the water in the the pot, so the Spaghetti do not stick.

Dish up. Heaven.