Pesto Rosso with Fettuccine

Pesto Rosso, or red pesto, is this wonderfully sweet and lightly acidic paste that's makes a great pasta sauce, or spread over warm toast. It gets its deep red colour from the sun-dried tomatoes. Traditionally its made by pounding everything together in a mortar and pestle, but its so much simpler to blitz it in food processor. The pestle method also creates grainer pesto, while I prefer mine to be smoother. For the sun-dried tomatoes, if you're short on time or patience, or are in a place like Bangalore where the sun hides lazes underneath a blanket of clouds, you can just dry tomatoes out in an oven. I dried them out on gas mark 3 for around 3-4 hours; a kilo of tomatoes makes around a cup of dried tomatoes. To serve with pasta, use 2 tbsp of the paste and mix it with a tablespoon of grated parmesan or grana padano, then thin it out with the  a cup full of the pasta cooking liquor. The recipe for fresh fettuccine can be found here. This recipe will make around a cup and half of pesto, and it keeps well in the fridge for around 2 weeks.

Ingredients

• 1 cup sun dried tomatoes
• 6 almonds, chopped
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 tbsp black olives
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 tsp paprika

Method

1. Toast the chopped almonds on high heat, until they release their aroma. Keep shaking the pan to prevent the almonds from burning.
2. Add the chopped almonds, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper to a grinder, and mince it until its evenly chopped.
3. Add half the olive oil and blitz to create a thick paste. Add the remaining olive oil for a thinner paste.
4. Store in the fridge in a dry air tight jar.
5. For a richer paste, mix in around 2 tbsp of parmesan or grana padano.

Fresh Fettuccine with Pesto

A wonderful medley of flavours and textures, with such a simple preparation. Classic pesto may work your muscles, but now with the whizz of a blender, it can be whipped up in a matter of minutes. Pesto is best served fresh with either pasta, as a dip or topped over bread. It balances the peppery flavour of basil with the wonderful sweetness of nuts, has the sharp bite of aged cheese. In this recipe, I've used walnuts in place of pine nuts, and grana padano, and served it up with fresh fettuccine, the recipe of which can be found here. I made this fettuccine with just fine plain white flour, and without semolina, as I wanted a softer texture.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp chopped walnuts/pine-nuts
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 bunch (60g) fresh basil, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 3 tbsp grated grana padano

Method

1. Pound the garlic and walnuts/pine-nuts, with the salt and pepper, in a pestle, to a smooth paste.
2. Add the chopped basil and water to a food processor/blender, and blitz to a thick paste.
3. Add the garlic-nut paste and run again, to mix it evenly through the paste.
4. Add the oil and turn into an emulsion. If the paste is too thick, add a little water to get the desired thickness.
5. Remove the mixture from the food processor and into a large mixing bowl. Add the cheese and stir it into the paste. Avoid using the a food  processor or blender for this bit, as the grated cheese would lose its distinctive sharpness and texture.
6. Check the salt, and serve with pasta, on top of pizzas or as a dip.
7. If using with pasta, fry the pesto lightly in oil and add the pasta water to thin it out, before mixing with the pasta.

Fresh Fettuccine with a Zucchini Marinara sauce

Fresh pasta has this tenderness and and unctuousness that store bought pasta can scarcely compare with. I bought a pasta machine last week and had to try it out this weekend. Fresh pasta needs a lot of "love", ergo a lot of pounding and stretching, to make as it uses hard summer wheat but needs the glutinous flexibility of winter wheat. So be prepared to exercise those dormant muscles in your hands and arms as they're in for quite a workout while making the dough. 

For the sauce, I used a simple marinara, with the addition of some zucchini and bacon for that little textual lift. For a vegetarian version you can omit the bacon entirely, and add some crisp onion as a garnish at the end for a little crispiness.

Ingredients

Fettuccine

• 4 cups fine wheat semolina, or hard wheat flour
• 5 eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• Extra plain flour for dusting
• Vegetable oil for oiling

Marinara Sauce

• 6 whole tomatoes
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp pepper
• salt to taste
• 1/2 a zucchini, chopped into thick quarters
• 3 rashers of back bacon, roughly chopped

Method

Fettuccine

1. Mix the eggs, salt and semolina together and knead into a firm dough. You shouldn't need any extra water, but in case the dough is a little loose add a little plain flour to kelp bind it together
2. Once the dough is made, place it on a floured workplace and oil your fingers. Then punch the dough down and stretch it out with the base of your palms. Roll it back and stretch it out again. Working this way with the dough will get the wheat germ to release its gluten.
3. Keep working on the dough until its springy to touch; which should take around 10 minutes of kneading. Then wrap in cling-film and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
4. Once rested split into 8 sections, and take one while keeping the rest under cling film to prevent it from drying out.
5. I used a pasta-machine, so roll it out until the pasta sheet is around 1 mm in thickness (setting 7). Then cut it out into fettuccine strips and boil in salted water. Keep the dough and fettuccine strips lightly floured to keep it from sticking. 
6. The fettuccine when cut would appear to be bunched together, but they would separate out when boiling. Just lightly shake it just as you add it to the boiling water and it will separate out.
7. Cook until its just cooked and just firm to touch, which should take around 2-3 minutes. Drain and lightly oil.
8. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.

Marinara sauce

1. Score the top of the tomatoes crosswise and boil until completely cooked. Remove and keep under cold water, then peel the skin off the tomatoes.
2. Add the boiled and skinned tomatoes to a food processor along with the oregano, thyme and paprika. Grind until you get the desired texture, such as keeping it chunky or smoothening it out.
3. Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the chopped garlic and onions.
4. Fry until the onions turn translucent and add the zucchini. Fry and cook the zucchini and add the white wine.
5. Stew on a high flame and add the ground tomato.
6. Add the pepper, basil and some salt to taste and bring the sauce to a boil. Then lower the flame to medium and let it stew. I like my marinara sauce to be thick and thus I cook the sauce uncovered. If your cooking it uncovered, keep stirring it periodically to prevent it from burning. Once cooked remove from heat and keep covered.
7. Fry the chopped bacon on high heat and in its own fat. Add the crisp bacon to the sauce and mix in in.
8. Create a base of fettuccine and ladle the sauce over. Serve up and dig in.