The other night I had one of my a favorite couples over for dinner! The hubby from the couple and I are watching our carbs, but the wife is pregnant, I also had a half bag of strozzapretti (that's the name of the pasta I used with the eggplant sauce) so I decided to make her a pasta dish aside from the proteins and greens her husband and I were having.
Being Persian I always have pistachios in my fridge, and I had a bunch of fresh mint too. And so I decided to make a fake pesto inspired sauce which the hubby called "festo"
To make festo you need:
Mint
Pistachios
Coffee grinder
Pecorino Romano (could substitute with any other dry aged cheese like Parmesan)
Olive oil
Garlic
Crushed red pepper
Pasta
I used my coffee grinder to grind about a half cup of pistachios into coarse particles. If you are Indian or Persian I know you have an exclusive spice coffee grinder. Others out there you can try the same grinder you use for coffee but it may taint the taste a lot so you could try a food processor or even a mortar and pestle!
After you have your pistachio powder, then sauté some chopped garlic along with the crushed red pepper in olive oil, add the pistachio powder, after about a minute of cooking the pistachio powder (constantly moving it so it doesn't burn) then add in some chopped mint, just barely letting it wilt. Then toss the pasta into it and grate the pecorino cheese to taste.
Remember to salt your pasta water well since you are not adding any additional salt in the sauce.
I had the leftovers of this dish cold the day after and it tasted just as good cold as it did warm.
I am planning to try a different festo in the winter, using sage, walnuts and gorgonzola.
I think this is fun recipe so choose a fresh herb, a cheese and a nut and experiment! Or try an Asian flare, use kaffir lime leaves, peanuts, rice noodles and green mango shaving, with some sesame oil or fish sauce. (i definitely have not tried that one yet, so if you try that let me know how it goes)
Being Persian I always have pistachios in my fridge, and I had a bunch of fresh mint too. And so I decided to make a fake pesto inspired sauce which the hubby called "festo"
To make festo you need:
Mint
Pistachios
Coffee grinder
Pecorino Romano (could substitute with any other dry aged cheese like Parmesan)
Olive oil
Garlic
Crushed red pepper
Pasta
I used my coffee grinder to grind about a half cup of pistachios into coarse particles. If you are Indian or Persian I know you have an exclusive spice coffee grinder. Others out there you can try the same grinder you use for coffee but it may taint the taste a lot so you could try a food processor or even a mortar and pestle!
After you have your pistachio powder, then sauté some chopped garlic along with the crushed red pepper in olive oil, add the pistachio powder, after about a minute of cooking the pistachio powder (constantly moving it so it doesn't burn) then add in some chopped mint, just barely letting it wilt. Then toss the pasta into it and grate the pecorino cheese to taste.
Remember to salt your pasta water well since you are not adding any additional salt in the sauce.
I had the leftovers of this dish cold the day after and it tasted just as good cold as it did warm.
I am planning to try a different festo in the winter, using sage, walnuts and gorgonzola.
I think this is fun recipe so choose a fresh herb, a cheese and a nut and experiment! Or try an Asian flare, use kaffir lime leaves, peanuts, rice noodles and green mango shaving, with some sesame oil or fish sauce. (i definitely have not tried that one yet, so if you try that let me know how it goes)
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