You'll need:
- 1 lb or 16 oz brown rice spaghetti (I used Tinkyada Spaghetti, or you can use any pasta according to your preference.)
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled
- 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used Kraft.)
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves, washed, stemmed, and packed
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 of a lemon, juiced (you can substitute it with other citrus of equal amount, or for desperate measures, you can use vinegar)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- ground pepper
- Cherry tomatoes or sun-dried tomatoes, optional
What to do:
1. Cook 1 pack of a 16 oz. or 1 lb. rice spaghetti according to package instructions. Drain pasta and reserve about 1/2 or a little more of a cup of the pasta water. While boiling water, and cooking the pasta, prepare your pesto sauce.
2. Add 1 peeled garlic, 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts, and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese to food processor. Mix and process until smooth. Add 2 cups of Basil leaves, and 1/4 cup olive oil.Pulse until mixture is thickened and emulsified.
3. Finish mixture off with salt, pepper, and the lemon juice. Whisk for the last time.
4. Taste pesto, and adjust seasoning.
5. Add Pesto sauce to hot pasta. Toss until all pasta is covered with pesto. Add reserved pasta water if you want it to be saucer.
6. Add fresh cherry tomatoes or chopped sun-dried tomatoes to mixture or for garnish if you like.
7. Serve it with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
If pine nuts is not readily available in your area, you can substitute it with other nuts like walnuts or pistachios.
This is so easy and quick to prepare. I assure you, the result will be like a magic trick. It is so quick to disappear from the pan too.
Enjoy. Let me know how yours turned out.
