Perfect Pesto

Ingredients

1 little container of pesto sauce from a grocery store (we got ours from Whole Foods).

1 lbs pack of Cappellini Pasta – or any other pasta shape you like

1tbsp olive oil

optional: ½ cup of grated pine nuts

               ½ cup of grated cheese – the older the better!

1 large pot with ¾ full of fresh, cold water

What to do

 In a large pot bring the water to a rolling boil. Add the tbsp of olive oil. Add the pasta. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package, but don’t overcook or your pasta will be very sticky.  You can test your pasta for doneness by asking an adult to take a little piece out and throw it at a painted wall – if it sticks to the wall your pasta is done if not you have to cook it some more. Our Cappellini only took 2 minutes to be done, so do not walk away from your pot!

In a nice big bowl mix your pesto sauce, 2 tbsp of the pasta’s hot cooking water and if you want, add the pine nuts and the grated cheese to this mix. Stir this together to get a nice smooth sauce. Rinse your pasta quickly in a colander under cold water and transfer to the bowl with the sauce. Mix well. Serve and eat with gusto!

We really liked this recipe! There were seconds, thirds and even fourths for some children.

Note:

If you are making fresh pesto, you will have to get lots of basil, garlic, olive oil and grated cheese, and salt to taste. There are some good Internet sites which have recipes for pesto from scratch.

This is the 2nd recipe of Mr. Welsh’s Class Cooks ----2005-2006      November 10, 2005