Spinach pasta with avocado pesto and pistachios

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This is a new recipe that we enjoyed and will definitely do more often. It is light and fresh with the basil, and has lots of flavor from the mustard and sesame oil, as well as the zing from cayenne pepper and Tabasco.

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

• 400 grams spinach tagliatelle
• 2 avocados
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tbs. chili oil (olive oil with red chili)
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 80 grams fresh basil leaves
• 20 grams parsley
• 1 tsp. grainy mustard
• 2 tsp. sesame oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• cayenne pepper
• Tabasco
• 200 grams pistachios, shelled and chopped

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil with a bit of salt in it.
2. When boiling, add the pasta and cook al dente.
3. Meanwhile, make the pesto.
4. Peel and de-seed the 2 avocados.
5. Put them into the blender.
6. Ad the chili oil, the basil, parsley and lemon juice and puree,
7. If necessary, you can add a bit of water so the blender can puree them all, but do not add too much as you don’t want the sauce to be too runny. Only about 2 tablespoons.
8. Add the garlic, salt, cayenne pepper salt and pepper and continue to puree.
9. Add the mustard and the sesame oil and puree until the mixture is very smooth.
10. Season to taste with additional salt, pepper or Tabasco.
11. Using a food processor or a coffee mil, chop the pistachio nuts coarsely.
12. Drain the pasta.
13. You can choose to put the pesto on the pasta and toss it well, serving it mixed, or you can serve the avocado pesto as a sauce that each can put on top of their pasta, thus serving themselves.
14. Sprinkle a generous amount of chopped pistachios on top.

Notes:

Adapted from waitrose.com

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 7th, 2007 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Avocado, Basil, Ingredients, Main Dishes, Meals, Pasta, Pistachio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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