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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Curtis Stone: Fresh Fettuccine with Homemade Pesto

Its been a while since I join the girls in

Submitting this post to Cook Like A Star 
this month’s featured star is the dashing Aussie chef - Curtis Stone

 Fresh Fettuccine with Homemade Pesto
(entree for my dinner tonite)
as you can see ~ I love peas!
Ingredients: original recipe serves 4:
1 ½ bunches fresh basil leaves (about 1½ cups / 30g lightly packed)
4 oz / 115 g pine nuts, toasted

½ cup / 70 g freshly grated parmesan cheese

½ cup / 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup of green peas
9 oz / 255 g fresh fettuccine
1 oz / 25 g parmesan cheese, shaved (for garnish)

To make the pesto

  1. Grind the basil, pine nuts and grated parmesan cheese with a mortar and pestle until a smooth paste forms. Slowly add ¼ cup / 50 ml of olive oil, grinding until a smooth sauce forms. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, use a food processor instead.
  2. Season the pesto to taste with salt and pepper.
  3. Cover the pesto and set it aside.

To prepare the pasta and serve

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil over high heat.
  2. Add the fettuccine to the boiling, salted water and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking, about 2 minutes.
  3. In another pot cook fresh peas and drain.
  4. Drain the fettuccine, reserving about 1 ½ cups of the cooking liquid.
  5. Toss the fettuccine and cooked peas in a large bowl with the pesto mixture in order to coat the fettuccine and peas with the pesto, adding enough of the reserved cooking liquid to moisten the sauce so that it coats the pasta evenly.
  6. Using a two-pronged carving fork, swirl some of the pasta around the fork. Slide the pasta off the fork and mound it in the centre of a plate. Repeat for each serving.
  7. Drizzle a little pesto around the edge of each plate.
  8. Garnish with shaved parmesan cheese and serve.
 (main course)
 chicken thigh in tomato sauce
cooked in HCPan

Well, my sweet basil plant is struggling after harvesting it twice
so went and bought a package of cut sprigs
leave the top two or four leaves at the tip of the sprigs
when plucking the basil for cooking
leave the sprigs soaking in glass jars
hopefully in a week's time there will be roots sprouting
 

Instructions (copied from www but cannot link cos that link is attracting weird visitors)

    • 1
      Cut a 6-inch tip from the stem of a parent plant, using clean, sharp scissors. Snip off any bloom buds on the stem and remove leaves from the lower half of the stem. Take the cutting from a healthy, mature basil plant in spring or early summer, before young green stems turn woody.
    • 2
      Put the stem in a clear glass or jar of water. Don't allow any of the leaves to touch the water.
    • 4
      Change the water every day while the cutting is rooting.
    • 5
      Fill a 4-inch pot with sterile potting soil when your basil cutting's roots are about an inch long. Plant the cutting in the pot and set the pot in a shallow container of warm water until the surface of the soil feels barely moist. Remove it from the water and allow it to drain freely.
    • 6
      Keep your basil plant in a warm, brightly lit spot. A sunny windowsill is perfect. Water just enough to evenly moisten the soil when the surface begins to dry out. Don't let the plant get wet feet.

9 comments:

kitchen flavours said...

Hi Emily,
Lovely plate of pasta! I love pesto! Basil from your herb garden? :)
And the chicken looks so yum!

Zoe said...

Hi Emily,

Happy to have you cooking with us! You were the biggest Jamie Oliver's fan when we were cooking last year. Glad that you like Curtis Stone too and enjoy your very-peasy pasta dish.

I see that you have Nigella books at your cookbook collection and hope that you can cook with us with Nigella event too.

Zoe

Unknown said...

This pea pasta looks really delicious!

Baby Sumo said...

Hi Emily, thanks for joining us this month. I also have a lot of sweet basil growing in my garden. Usually the cuttings I have will sprout roots after a few days, just remember to change the water every 2-3 days.

Emily said...

My own basil tree almost botak, so bought a packet.

Emily said...

Curtis is quite entertaining! Looking forward to Nigella's turn!

Emily said...

We had another variation on this peasy pasta for tonight's dinner!

Emily said...

Hopefully I see roots soon!

Anonymous said...

Wow, now this is something interesting and captivating. I’ve never seen nor tasted anything like it. I might try this next week on our family reunion next week. I bet my cousins and aunt will definitely love this. They are fond of pasta especially cooked in a unique way. Thanks again!


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