Mains

Pesto Pasta

Pesto pasta that's slick with sauce without being oily. The secret is the pasta cooking water — it emulsifies with the oil in the pesto to coat every strand. Best with homemade pesto.

Recipe via recipetineats.com

Instructions

1. 1

   Bring a large pot of water to the boil with the salt.

2. 2

   Add pasta and cook for the length of time per the packet.

3. 3

   Just before draining, scoop out 1 cup of of the pasta cooking water.

4. 4

   Drain pasta in a colander, leave it for a minute.

5. 5

   Transfer pasta to a bowl (do not use pasta cooking pot, too hot).

6. 6

   Add pesto and 1/4 cup of pasta water. Toss to coat pasta in pesto, adding more water if required to make pasta silky and saucy, rather than dry and sticky.

7. 7

   Taste, add more salt and pepper if desired.

8. 8

   Serve immediately, garnished with fresh parmesan.