Pasta con pesto, a little pimped

I didn't know how many persons would come for dinner. My sister and her boyfriend are leaving for the Summer holidays to the South of France, and they might or might not dine with us tonight. I thought of something which can be made easily for 3, 4 or 5 people without problem and it was pasta con pesto Genovese.


I'm a huge pasta fan. You might have noticed as three out of the last four posts involved pasta. I could eat it every day if my dad wouldn't mind.


Just the pesto along with the pasta is good, but it lacks some vegetables and colour for me. So I pimped the dish a bit to suit my taste :)
I also traded half of the basil for rocket. It's both goof on its' own, but why not taking both, then?


Ingredients for 4:
- 400 grams pasta (such as tagliatelle)
- handful of fresh basil
- handful of fresh rocket (rucola)
- 80 grams pine nuts, lightly roasted in a hot skillet
- 200 grams parmigiano reggiano
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- olive oil
- pepper and salt to taste
- 8 cherry tomatoes
- bruschetta herb mixture (I use the one from Oil & Vinegar)


How to:
Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and put them on an oven tray with their rounded sides down. Sprinkle them with the bruschetta mixture. Put them in a 150°C oven for at least one hour. Take care the herbs don't burn, that taste isn't very good.
Grate the cheese. Put it in a pot but keep some aside to serve.
Pull the basil and rocket into smaller pieces and put them in the same pot. Keep a few leaves apart for serving.
Put the garlic, the salt, pepper and the pine nuts in the pot and start crushing all the ingredients together. Pour in enough olive oil to make a thick liquid.
Cook the pasta according to the package and drain.
Serve the pasta with a few spoonfuls of pesto, some dried cherry tomatoes, some leaves of basil and grated parmesan cheese.


Heavy but sooo good ...


Buon appetito!