Pasta with homemade pesto

📝 Ingredients

• 80 g pasta (preferably linguine or trofie)
• — Fresh pesto —
• 1 large bunch fresh basil (30 g)
• 30 g grated Parmesan + extra to serve
• 1 handful pine nuts (or walnuts for a budget version)
• 1 garlic clove
• 5 tbsp good-quality extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt, pepper
• 1 tbsp pasta cooking water

🍴 Utensils

• Blender or mortar
• Large saucepan
• Large serving bowl

📖 Steps

1. FRESH PESTO: dry-toast the pine nuts in a frying pan for 2 min until lightly coloured. Careful, they burn quickly.
2. In the blender: basil, cooled pine nuts, Parmesan, garlic and a good pinch of salt. Pulse so it doesn't heat up.
3. Drizzle in the oil while blending until the pesto is smooth but still has a little texture. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
4. Cook the pasta in a large pan of well-salted water. Reserve 3 tbsp of the cooking water before draining.
5. In the serving bowl, spread out the pesto. Add the hot drained pasta and the cooking water. Toss vigorously — the starch and cooking water create a sauce that coats.
6. Serve immediately. Grate over extra Parmesan and add pepper.