Monday, December 23, 2013

when tradition goes green

pasta with potatoes and basil pesto 



















Starch-on-starch dish is red.
Ground red paprika, onions and two constants: potatoes and pasta are traditionally, where I grow up, mixed into one of favorite children meals. I do count myself in this statistics. Memories from kindergarten kitchen are intense and when I think of this dish all I remember is empty plates and happy bellies.
But my memory also records some contemporary trends. Nowadays we got used to eat and consume fresh herbs almost on every day basis. You can actually go to restaurant and while eating what you ordered you can additionally browse some fresh herbs from pot which stands in front of you.  
More and more people grow herbs indoors, under windows. Even my father has become a member of this ‘green’ population. He grows basil in his own yard and he is adding his very much favorite herb almost in all dishes, but only when no one is watching.

Today we are changing color to complementary green.
This ‘green tradition’ is inspired by basil, actually to be more precise by Nigella’s Kitchen and it looks like this..




















..and it has the same taste, taste of happy belly no matter what the color is. 


The recipe:
3 medium potatoes (peeled and cut into small slices)
350 grams linguine
2 handfuls fresh basil leaves
100 grams grated Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic (peeled and grated)
100 ml extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste 


Put potato slices into a saucepan. Pour several cups of water, enough salted water to take the pasta later, and bring to the boil. Cook the potatoes until tender and then add the pasta.
While this is cooking, put ingredients for the pesto in a food processor.
Before you drain the pasta and potatoes, reserve about half a cup of the cooking liquid. Tip the drained potatoes and pasta back into the dry pan. Add the pesto from the processor and enough cooking water to give a silky sauce. Stir everything with pasta tossers. 



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