Saturday

Tantalising Tagliatelle, per favore!

Friday night - Yayie !!!! Legitimate 'one pot meal day' (if we're home, that is!). Don't get me wrong..there are many a 'one-pot-meal days' - slightly tinged with guilt at times.
Fridays however, its official :)
Its expected.
Had there been a prenup, it'd have been there - in ink.

Also lately, the chutzpah has been missing from our fave local Italian takeaway - or maybe, we've just had too much of a good thing ?! Enter - Gary Rhodes' recent culinary ramblings. Alluring scenes of rolling olive groves and lovely gondolas with oodles of fresh pasta thrown in for good measure - I could drown in a vat of olives/olive oil right this minute and be buried in Tuscany, thank you.
Well, it had to be a pasta night, it was the right thing to do.
And technically - a one-pot meal - since you can open a jar of pesto anytime..but I was in my element. I zhuzzed my own :)


Recipe for Tagliatelle with sundried tomato pesto,cashewnuts, spinach, olives and feta (feeds 3-4)

Needs

Fresh egg tagliatelle - 500 gm
Fresh baby leaf spinach - 200 gm (washed)
Black and green Olives with feta- 100 gm ( chop the olives, crumble some feta, reserve some feta cubes)
1/2 a jar(280 gm) sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup cashewnuts , dry roasted
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
Red chilli pepper flakes
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup of olive oil

Method


First, prepare the pesto by blending the sun-dried tomatoes and their oil, roasted cashewnuts,1 minced garlic, salt,pepper and chilli flakes(to taste) in a food processor Add olive oil to achieve desired pesto consistency. Transfer the pesto mixture to a large bowl.

Separately, cook the tagliatelle in a large pot of boiling water as per pack instructions (until al dente - as per pack instructions - approx 3 minutes). Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tsp of butter and 1 tsp of olive oil in a pan. Saute spinach with the remaining minced garlic till wilted and press against the pan to release liquids as shown.
Remove spinach, and chop finely. Remove liquids from pan.


Now add back the chopped spinach, pesto, chopped olives and crumbled feta in the pan - saute for 1 minute and toss in the warm pasta to coat.

Add  enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten ( makes it easier to toss the tagliatelle). Season the pasta, to taste, with salt and pepper and serve, ganished with baby spinach leaves, chopped sundried tomatoes and feta cubes.

Creamy pesto and chunky bits. Pure bliss.

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5 comments:

  1. OMG all my favourite things. This looks so yummy, will add to my list of things to make. Never thought of feta in pasta, but can see how it would work.

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  2. Lots of my favourite things in this pasta too - it looks delicious. Cashew nuts are not something I would have thought of as a pasta accompaniment, so would be good to try.

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  3. Sounds unusual - but works really well! :) Cashews are creamier than pinenuts, so no pecorino/parmiggiano reggiano is needed for the pesto - that helps the Feta holds its own too !

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  4. If I were in a restaurant I'd order that! It looks so tasty and as though there are an explosion of flavours! Thank you for sharing :)

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