This week for Thirty Minute Thursdays, cooking our way through Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta book with Glennis and whoever else wants to join us, I made Spaghetti al Pesto Ligure con Quayliata (Spaghetti with Creamy Basil Pesto), on page 55.
My basil plant is growing like crazy this year and I am finding that I need to step up my use of it to just keep up with it, so I made the second pesto recipe from the book for this week. (I made one last week so that I could compare as they use different ingredients.)
The ingredient list: garlic, basil, pine nuts, salt, olive oil, spaghetti, whole milk ricotta, and freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.
The pesto making part of the recipe was very easy, and absolutely delightfully delicious, not too strong with the garlic, just the right amount, not too much oil, just the right amount, and took only moments to make. I am going to be making this a lot this summer if this basil holds out, it's my favorite pesto recipe so far. He also gives instructions for how to freeze pesto.
After the pesto is made, it is just a matter of tossing it with the cheeses and spaghetti and ready to eat just that quick. This recipe was slightly creamier from the addition of the ricotta cheese than the first recipe. The first recipe had a little butter in it and this one did not. The tastes were quite similar and both were delicious. I think the guys liked the one with the ricotta cheese better as there was nothing left of it after dinner, but that could be that they were just hungrier this week, so hard to tell as they enjoyed them both. This recipe is a great way to use up that little bit of ricotta you have left hanging around when you don't use quite the whole tub in a recipe. Fast, easy, and delicious!
If you like the looks and sounds of it, buy the book as I am a believer in encouraging people to support the authors who put together these fabulous books by buying a copy, so you won't find the recipes posted from this book here. (Buy it, the recipes are easy, the ingredients are easy to locate, it's not pricey, and there are photos of almost all the recipes.)
