Spaghetti with pesto

New week, new pasta recipe

I took the pasta recipe blog very seriously and as you see I am very committed into making sure weekly I deliver, as I promised, a new recipe. This week around it's all about a brand-new recipe which to tell you the truth I just discovered and learn how to cook it about 3 months ago. Yesterday after I finish my working hours in the Erasmus office I came straight home and cooked this recipe and today I will tell you all about it.

Pesto is an Italian sauce if I can call it like this which i kind off knew about it but I guess I didn't know how to blend it with my cooking or into my eating lifestyle. I remember one time a couple of years ago when I went to the cinema in my hometown of Transylvania and before the movie started I ordered a sandwich, the waiter girl she asked me what I would like on my bread and then I saw pesto option. As I am a person who always wants to try different recipes I said yeah I will go for it, so I ordered the pesto ham cheese sandwich and oh my God life was never the same after that. Since then, I always bought the pesto sauce (from Barilla of course) all the time and use it to make me homemade sandwiches.

Until recently I was just using same old pasta recipes like Carbonara and tomato pasta and then one day being so over the top bored from eating the same stuff, I said why not get a pesto sauce and try to do something with it, maybe like a pasta sauce. Said and done I cooked this recipe and completely felt in love with it and since then is by far my favorite ever. Pesto comes with 2 different sauces, one is the classic green one made from basil and cheese and there is a red pesto sauce which is made out of dried tomatoes and nuts or something like that. They are both amazing but I prefer the green one, that's why the name of ''Green Pasta''.

Spaghetti with pesto

So this week is all about the pesto pasta, I will show you guys step by step how I cooked this tasty recipe and hopefully somebody can get inspire as well. I used very little ingredients for which I did not spend a lot of money. I cooked only for one person. I bought all my products from Migros (which is my go-to Turkish supermarket) and I will let you know about the price as well.

Ingredients :

Spices :

Okay so let's get started with the recipe!

• First thing is to cook the pasta according to the package instructions, bring water to boil, add plenty of salt and when the water is boiling add the spaghetti for about 8 -10 minutes, then you can set aside and drain. For this particularly recipe you can use as well penne.

The important thing is never break the spaghetti into smaller pieces, is not working like this. Leave the spaghetti alone and after 1 minute or, so they will go down very softly and you will enjoy it better as an authentic shape.

• In the meantime while the pasta is boiling cut all the veggies into small pieces, the onion, the garlic and the ham and pepper.

As you see I did not use to many products and not a lot of them, I had 3 pieces of ham which I sliced and a half green pepper.

I totally adore this pesto, the color and the taste, I can eat it like this plain simple. The best thing about it is that you can use it in many recipes, if it's chicken or other meat, pastas, sandwiches and a bunch of other things. Give it a try!

• Next step after you have everything sliced and chopped is to heat up a pan with 2 spoons oil. Add one by one the veggies starting with the ham, onion, garlic and last the green pepper.

• Add salt and oregano. Mix it well and in another pot bring water to boil (around 200 ml).
• Add the boiling water over the veggies and mix it for about 1 minute.
• Add 3 or 4 spoons of pesto sauce and mix it very good while the fire is minimum volume, you must get a soft creamy mixture.

It may look a bit gross but trust me final result will blow your mind.

• After you got that creamy feeling to it close the fire, add the black pepper and chop some parsley.

I absolutely love the smell of fresh parsley. Growing up I hated parsley and I did not understand is role into cooking, but lately I love it and use it in almost every dish and trust me I use a lot!

• Add the pasta over the sauce then the parsley. Mix it very good so the spaghetti gets well incorporated with the sauce.

If you love parmesan cheese you can add it on top after you set the pasta on the plate and maybe more black pepper.

Amazing dish and absolutely tasty, even looking now at yesterday's picture my mouth is watery can you believe that.

Of course, I always serve it with my favorite drink, Red Bull, maybe I can write a story of how I got addicted into this energizer. But seriously those who know my addiction know what I am talking about.

Enjoy this dish while sitting comfortable in the bed watching the Rio 2016 Olympics like me.

Bon appétit guys!

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