Pasta with rocket salad and walnuts pesto

I am pleased to share this easy-to-make pesto that, as many pasta dressing of the Italian tradition, is made of the very simple ingredients people could have at hand, or wild plants like rocket salad used to be.

Once again,  first quality fresh ingredients, Italian cheeses (Italian sounding is not the same!) and good extra olive oil are the secrets of this simple, full of flavour recipe. 

You can prepare the dressing in advance: it keeps for a day or so in the fridge, but also you can freeze it in portions in an air tight container or jars.

The only fuss of this recipe is to peel the walnuts from its dark skin, but it is worth the effort because you will have a smother result.

Ingredients for 4 people:

320 grs. Pasta (This was great, but you can also try smaller like "gnocchetti sardi")

100 grs /3.52 oz Rocket salad

50 gr. / 1.76 oz Walnuts

100 grs/ 3.52 (half a glass...)  extra virgin olive oil (e.v.o.o.)

30 grs./ 1 oz. Grated Pecorino (sheep cheese)

30 grs./ 1 oz Grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano

1 pinch salt + more to cook pasta

1)   Put some water in a little pan and bring it to the boil. Throw in the walnuts and drain in a colander after a couple of minutes.

2)   In the meanwhile wash, drain and dry the rocket and discard the stems.








3)  Peel the walnuts, not so easy but feasible.

4)   Put the walnuts, the cheeses, half of the e.v.o.o. and the rocket salad in a mixer - slowly at first - and work for few minutes adding the remaining oil little by little. Do not let the cream to warm up.

You should obtain a grainy cream. Refrigerate it.

5)   In a large pan bring the water to the boil, add 3 teaspoons salt, and cook the pasta as suggested on the packaging. Respect the time!

6)   In a large pan mix the pasta with the pesto. Serve immediately. White wine recommended!

Pasta with sweet pepper sauce

This is a healthy and light recipe.

You can also use thick spaghetti or whole wheat pasta (I recommend spaghetti or penne), more suitable for vegetarians!

But let’s stick to the original.

This is one of the few recipes for which I use the pasta machine, because as the rolling pin is not requested, and you need that special roller to cut it, it takes just few minutes to have a fantastic pasta!

Ingredients

3 eggs

300 grs flour

2 red/yellow sweet peppers

4-5 spoons extra virgin olive oil

100 grs. ricotta

1 tea spoon fennel seeds

Salt

Instructions

1) Wash and dry your peppers. Put them in a pre-heated oven 180° covered with baking paper for at least 30° or 4-5 minutes in the microwave. They must be soft and hot.

    2) In the meanwhile prepare your pasta, weight the 3 eggs first (here they are 5 because I made it for 6 people), then put the same quantity of flour on a pastry board, make a well in the centre, pour in the eggs and start mixing with a fork, adding the flour when needed.

  3) Make a nice dough and work it with your hands for at least 5-7 minutes. Let it rest 30 minutes in a bowl covered with a clean cloth.

   

   4) Go back to your sweet peppers, they should be hot and soft .

Close them immediately in an air tight container or bag and let them cool down.

    5) When warm, peal them (the outer skin comes very easily) and remove and discard the stem and the seeds.

    6) Process them in your food processor together with the oil, the fennel seeds and a pinch of salt. Add the ricotta to obtain a very smooth creamy seasoning.  taste again and add salt if needed. Refrigerate it if you are not using it within an hour or so.

  




   

   7) Prepare your pasta machine. Cut the dough into slices,  and pass it through the first rollers. Dust the stripes you obtain with some flour.

     8) Decrease the distance between the rollers and pass it again through the rollers.

   9) Repeat until you are in the middle of your dial and let all the stripes dry a bit.

  10) Prepare one or more trays with a clean cloth. 

  11) Install your cutter on the machine and after dusting the stripes once more with flour cut the pasta into square spaghetti. Display them on the trays and dust them with some  flour.

  12) Let them dry for a while. They should not stick to each other.  

 13) Few minutes before eating, throw the home made spaghetti in a deep pan of salted boiling water and cook for about 3 minutes until they float. Drain them well in a colander, dress them with the creamy pepper sauce and serve immediately.

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