18 mins
Not Too Tricky
serves 4
About the recipe
Making a simple pesto from scratch is quick, easy and will take your pasta dishes up a notch on the flavour front. Enjoy!
Ingredients
80g wild rocket
½ a clove of garlic
50g shelled unsalted pistachios
olive oil
25g Parmesan cheese, plus extra to serve
1 lemon
320g asparagus
300g dried linguine
Top Tip
EASY SWAPS
Swap out the unshelled pistachios for walnuts, almonds, cashews or pine nuts, or replace the rocket with a soft herb, such as basil, flat-leaf parsley or mint – experiment with your favourite flavour combos.
Method
- Pick 70g of wild rocket into a pestle and mortar, then bash to a paste with a pinch of sea salt.
- Peel and bash in ½ a clove of garlic, then pound in 50g of unshelled pistachios until fine. Muddle in 4 tablespoons of olive oil, finely grate in 25g of Parmesan, then squeeze in the juice of 1 lemon. Season to perfection with salt and black pepper, then taste and tweak the pesto to your liking.
- Cook 300g of dried linguine in a pan of boiling water according to the packet instructions, then drain, reserving a mugful of starchy cooking water.
- Meanwhile, snap off the woody ends from 320g of asparagus.
- Toss the pasta with the pesto, then using a speed-peeler, peel lengths of the asparagus into the pan, loosening with a splash of reserved cooking water, if needed.
- Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and finish with the remaining 10g of rocket and a fine grating of Parmesan. Delicious served with a crunchy salad.
Tags
