February 13, 2013

Pesto Pasta Recipe.

-Pesto anyone? 
-Yes, Please!!!
Here's my very easy and very yummy recipe !

Ingredients: 
1 box (13-16oz) of pasta (I used whole wheat)
2 cups of fresh basil leaves
4 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 or  3/4 cut of pine nuts (depends how much you like them)
1/4 cup olive oil
~
Ingredients to marinate the shrimp:
1 lb of large peeled shrimp
1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
6 garlic cloves minced
2 teaspoons of sweet dried basil

Directions.
1. Marinate the shrimp few hours before cooking the dish. I would say 1-2 hours should be fine. To marinate just combine all the shrimp marinate ingredients together, mix and store in the fridge for  1-2 hours. When ready to start cooking go to step 2.
2. Bring salted water to boil and put the pasta in to cook. Follow the instructions on the box for time.
3.  Put basil leaves, pine nuts, minced garlic, olive oil, and parmesan cheese into the blender and blend everything together until you get nice creamy mix. I left mine a little chunky because I really like pine nuts and wanted to leave them somewhat visible.
4. When pasta is done cooking, drain the water out. I left pasta in the same pot where it was cooking. Add pesto to the pot with pasta. Mix pasta with your pesto sauce well.
5. Marinated shrimp put on a skillet  and cook for few minutes. I poured some of the remaining marinate into the skillet too. Be careful not to overcook the shrimp. Few minutes on the skillet is enough. (Pink shrimp is the color of cooked shrimp)
6. At this point everything is ready. So you can either mix it all together or like I did I placed shrimp on the side. I also added some fresh mozzarella cheese on top of my pesto pasta, and added some tomatoes on the side. 


Try this recipe, and let me know how you like it!
It's very easy to make!

Bon Appetit!!!