Basil Pesto Linguine

One day, I was asking my boyfriend what to eat for dinner. I was thinking about some fast food places but he told me that I should cook some basil pesto pasta. I was so damn lazy, but he kept giving me a hard time about how I don't cook anymore and I could save money if I just stopped eating out so often. He was right. I got up and and marched right down to Safeway and picked up some basil pesto ingredients.

Courtesy of foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

• 2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino cheese (see Cook's Note)

Directions

Combine the basil, garlic, and pine nuts in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add 1/2 cup of the oil and process until fully incorporated and smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

If using immediately, add all the remaining oil and pulse until smooth. Transfer the pesto to a large serving bowl and mix in the cheese.

Boil some linguine for about 9 minutes. Drain the water and stir in the a few spoonfuls of pesto into the pasta until the noodles are coated enough to your liking. Place on a plate and dice some fresh tomatoes to place on top. 

Review

This was the first time I had ever made pesto. And to be honest, I have had pesto maybe only once in my entire life so my technique in making this pasta dish could be a little off and I wouldn't really know the difference. Anyway, this dish is incredibly easy to make. Boil some pasta, throw some pesto ingredients into the food processor, and combine. Nothing at all too complicated. And the dish came out pretty well. My only issue with this was that I think I added too much cheese (I never thought I would ever make that statement). But I just followed the recipe pretty strictly, although looking back at it I think I should have slowly added the cheese until I thought I put enough. Regardless, it was still a tasty dish. Just some lesson learned for the next time I make it.