Summer plus cooking is not always a great combination, especially when it's as hot as the last few days here in Amsterdam. That's why sometimes it's great to prepare something easy, fast and tasty like this herb pesto with almost no effort and totally no "real" cooking involved.
The only thing that needs to be cooked is pasta or, like in this case, the gnocchi.
Fresh herbs are abundant in this period and it's a good idea to make some extra pesto to put in the freezer in small portions that can be defrosted when needed.
I've recently discovered this pesto recipe in the Italian magazine "Cucina Moderna" and had it prepared by some of my cooking "pupils" in combination with self made gnocchi. To see how you can prepare gnocchi take a look at my gnocchi video.
The classic pesto alla genovese contains just basil (see my video recipe here) while for this version you can use other types of herbs. You can of course choose different herbs than the ones I use here but don't mix too many tastes otherwise you'll overdo it. Good pesto - and all other types of good food, i.m.h.o. - are better if you follow the golden Italian "less is more" rule.
TIP: use a lot of flat-leaf parsley as a base, the other herbs can be added in smaller quantities.
Pesto alle erbe
Serves 4
1 little shallot
a big bunch of fresh herbs (flat-leaf parsley, thyme, mint and oregano)
60 gr. walnut kernels plus a handful of extra walnuts for garnishing purposes
60 gr. grated Parmesan cheese
2 dl extra vergine olive oil
salt and pepper
Peel the shallot and chop it coarsely.
Wash the herbs, dry them with kitchen paper ad remove stems and stalks (use only the leaves, thus).
Chop the herbs in the mixer together with the walnuts, the cheese, the olive oil and the shallot.
Season with salt and pepper to taste (most of the times it's not necessary to do so) and serve on pasta or gnocchi with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and garnished with a few walnut kernels.
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