Cooking: Simple Pesto with Whole Wheat Pasta and Hot Italian Sausage

 So I came home intending to write up a dessert post and then I had the leftovers from a meal I made earlier this week. I was hit by how awesome it was and decided to switch it up & do this dish instead! Don't worry, the dessert post will come very soon.

Simple Pesto w/ Whole Wheat Pasta and Hot Italian Sausage
 (note the picture does not do the flavor justice)

I like pesto but I haven't really made it before. Usually when I go for pasta I go for tomato sauce - it's the Italian wannabe in me. I just love it. But lately I have been in the mood to mix it up. I found a recipe in this super informative cookbook, "how to cook everything: the basics" that made me realize how easy pesto is. The recipe in the book is meatless, but I decided to add some hot Italian sausage. When doesn't sausage make something taste better?! However, you could go meatless or add pretty much any meat you want (meatballs, tofu, chicken). Once you learn the basic recipe, the possibilities are endless as you can keep experimenting and mixing it up. For example, you could add a different type of nut, switch up the proportions of basil/nuts, add in more seasoning (i.e. red pepper), or switch up the cheese. 

Start to finish (including pasta cooking time), this dish took me less than 30 minutes, and that was with taking a million and 5 pictures.

Ingredients (makes 4 servings):

Note: All amounts below are merely suggestions. You can vary to your taste.

8 oz of whole wheat pasta (I used whole wheat because 

1 1/2 - 2 cups loosely packed basil  

1-3 garlic cloves (see cautionary note below)

2 tablespoons pine nuts

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (or pecorino romano)

4 links of hot Italian sausage

1-2 tablespoons of canola oil

Pasta

To start, put a large pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil. Add some salt to the water, and then once boiling again add in the pasta. I used whole wheat pasta. According to my cookbook, the pesto clings better to the texture which I agree with. Cook according to package directions, drain, and set aside. 

Pesto

The main ingredients - basil, garlic, and pine nuts!

To start the pesto (which you should thoroughly wash to remove the grit), grab the basil by the stem and pull off the leaves. Wa-la! That's it! The beauty of pesto is a food processor does all the heavy lifting.

Next, prepare the garlic. I always crush garlic before I work with it. It releases the juices that create the wonderful garlic flavors. Plus, crushing it makes it super easy to remove the shell. If you skip this step and just cut the garlic, you won't get as good of a flavor. Warning: You will see 3 garlic cloves above. I might have gone a bit overboard. If you are a garlic lover like me, you will love the end result. If you aren't a huge fan of garlic, stick with one clove.

Then put the garlic, basil, a few tablespoons of pine nuts and a pinch of salt  into the food processor.

Add half of the olive oil, put on the lid & turn the food processor on for about 30 seconds.

 

Pause, scrape the sides of the food processor, and then begin processing again. While the food processor is working, slowly pour in the olive oil until it becomes the consistency you want. For everyone, this will be different so try it a few different ways. Since I wanted my pesto to coat all the pasta, I erred for the more liquid-y side, while still being pasty. See picture below to try to make sense of that?

Finally, stir in the cheese (which I would highly suggest you buy a block of and grate yourself - with a pesto you want your ingredients as FRESH as possible). Taste and figure out if you want more of less of anything. If you add as much garlic as I did, be prepared for a strong surprise! However, I can promise this will (somewhat) lighten as it's spread across the pasta and sausage to turn into wonderfulness. Set aside while you prepare the sausage.

Sausage

To start, heat a skillet using medium-high heat. Add the canola oil. (Note: olive oil & heat above medium do not mix. The heat destroys the flavor, which means you are basically throwing away money by using the more expensive oil. Don't worry - you will get your daily dose of olive oil, plus some, in the pesto.)

 

In order to get the sausage to crumble, I use my knife to slice the outer casing and peel it away. Gross!

Add the sausage to the pan, and crumble using your spatula/ground meat breaker. Cook it until browned. You won't be finishing it in a sauce so make sure you fully cook it here.

Finally, combine the pasta, pesto, and sausage. Enjoy! You are done! Super simple! The pictures don't do the flavor justice. If you are lucky, you will have leftovers because I think the flavors intensify/get even better the next day.