Basil Pesto

Craving Italian food without wanting to do a lot of work in the kitchen. This pesto takes just a few minutes to put together. Gather all the ingredients blend them, and mix in the pasta. And you have a gourmet basil pesto ready to serve. It's filled with the healthy benefits of the basil leaves combined with salty, earthy parmesan cheese. The best recipe to curb the pasta craving for a lazy day!

Serves: 3

Ingredients

1 cup Basil

3 minced garlic cloves

3/4 cup of olive oil

⅓ cup of Pine nuts

1/2 cup of Parmesan

1 Tbsp lemon juice

salt according to taste

200g Fettuccini

Chilli Flakes

Method

Step 1

Fill a deep pot with generous amounts of water. Place on high heat and sprinkle salt and a few drops of olive oil. Once the water starts boiling, add your pasta and boil it till fully cooked.

Step 2

Drain your pasta and reserve ¼ cup of pasta water. Wash the basil leaves thoroughly. Then to a blender, add all the basil, garlic, pine nuts, lemon juice, parmesan, pasta water and olive oil and blend for 1-2 minutes or till a smooth paste.

Step 3

Then add your pasta to a bowl and drizzle the basil pesto. Mix well and garnish with some parmesan and chilli flakes. Serve hot.

Tips

1. Cook the pasta according to the instructions given on the packet of the pasta

2. You can also substitute pine nuts with walnuts reducing the quantity to half.