home made basil pesto with pine nuts

i finally conquered my fear [or was it laziness] of making my own basil pesto with pine nuts from fresh ingredients.  my sister had just learned how to make fresh pasta and she asked me to make the sauce for it for our planned dinner that night.

i scoured the nearest supermarket for some pesto of the bottled kind but they yielded nothing.  i contemplated on going to another store but decided to check the fresh herb aisle for basil.  i negotiated with myself that if i found good-looking ones i would then try my hand at making the sauce from scratch too.

so i was able to buy 6 bunches of okay-looking basil leaves and hoped to the heavens that my rarely-used electric mini-chopper still worked.  i was not ready to chop them leaves with my knife for fear that my arm would ache so much i wouldn't be able to hold up a spoon and eat. =P i noted with delight that i had everything else i needed in the pantry, yes, even pine nuts [which have been perfectly preserved in the freezer for a secret number of years, can you believe that???]

it turned out a real hit.


because the ingredients were fresh you could inhale the pungent fragrance of the newly chopped basil leaves infused in the the deep, rich olive oil with every forkful.   and you get to bite into real pine nut bits and whole ones too.

it was a cinch to make [thanks to my trusty chopper].  i got the recipe from here. 

i tweaked it a little by warming it all up on the stove-top and stirred in freshly grated parmesan cheese [pecorino is hard to come by in my part of the world].

oh, i also dry roasted the pine nuts and only pulsed half of them for added texture.  i used the remaining half as topping with more grated parmesan.. and i did not follow the proportions [i'm lazy that way], i go by feel and frequent tastings, he he. =D you can check out my recipe version here.

all in all, this is what i have to say: you can find plenty bottled pesto in any well stocked grocer, plus you can stock up the ready made ones for longer.  but nothing beats the taste of fresh ingredients, so i urge you, go ahead make your own basil pesto.  it's fast, it's easy, it has a very short ingredient list and most of them you already have in stock!

and more importantly! you get the added bonus of being able to declare that you made it from scratch and then bask in the oohs and ahs of your guests, if they can manage it between mouthfuls. ;D

my pine nut proven fact: they say you can keep it in the freezer for a maximum of 6 months or so but i've had mine for probably 4 years now and they are as fresh as the day i bought them.  and they DO NOT freeze at all, they just stay crunchy.

spaghetti alla carbonara

contrary to popular belief, this type of pasta dish is not [supposed to be] dripping in creamy white sauce.  It is the kind of pasta dish that is moist, yes, because the sauce coats each and every strand of pasta.  and it is kind of tricky to make, especially if you are afraid to undercook the eggs in it.

so once and for all, what we popularly know as carbonara or pasta in white sauce here in the Philippines, is actually different variations of the Alfredo sauce, which naturally became more liked here as we are a people who love food dripping or swimming in sauce.

i will not pretend to be an italian but this is what i'm sure of:  carbonara sauce is basically made up of bacon, eggs, and salt and pepper.  you can add butter, milk or cream and parmesan and probably even fresh peas but take out the bacon and eggs and it ceases to be carbonara.

Alfredo is basically the sauce made of butter and heavy cream.  you can add different ingredients to it but the most popular ones are mushrooms and chicken[preferably slivers of cooked skinless breast meat].

when i stayed in florence [in my late teens, for 5 months, but that story belongs to another blog] we always made pasta alla carbonara because it is fast and cheap  to create.  i never heard of Pasta Alfredo though, so i'm suspecting it did not originate there, i'm leaning on the italian who migrated to the US of A story.  anyways, because of this, i love carbonara more than alfredo, because it brings back memories of me as a young girl in a little italian city, trying to work for a more united world with other young girls coming from different parts of the world.

but enough of the chit-chat, here's the recipe of Spaghetti alla Carbonara, which i cooked today for 2 hungry children who happily gobbled it all up at lunch and at dinner time.

ingrediendts:
450g dried spaghetti
1 tbsp olive oil
225 g lean bacon, chopped
4 eggs
5 tbsp light cream
4 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

steps:

1. bring a large pot with lightly salted water to a rolling boil
2. meanwhile, heat oilve oil in a skillet and add chopped popped bacon, cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 8-10 minutes
3. put pasta in boiling salted water and cook until al dente [firm to the bite], usually 10 minutes
4. beat the eggs with cream in a bowl and season with salt and pepper
5. drain the pasta and return it to the pan, DO NOT RINSE THE PASTA
6. pour in the cooked bacon, the egg mixture and half the parmesan cheese
7. stir well and transfer to a serving dish
8. serve immediately, sprinkled with the remaining parmesan cheese

note:  be careful not to pour the eggs while the fire is still on, this will curdle the eggs, and you will end up with pasta in scrambled eggs, instead of a smooth, creamy coating. the eggs will cook in the residual heat left in the hot pasta.  because of this, timing is key.

p.s.  my lengthy discussion before the recipe was just my o-c-ness kicking in, i just wanted to set things straight.  but please don't let it stop you from adding other ingredients you want like chopped onions and/or mushrooms.  with food, there should be no strict rules to follow.  whatever suits you, as long as it isn't harmful, is perfectly fine.  buon appetito!