A Little Bit of Pesto

It is the weirdest feeling but I have not even lifted a finger in my own kitchen since last thursday! A whole weekend went by and I did not even need to turn on the stovetop. Between the leftovers and the outings we had, there was no need to :) Although I love to cook, a little break is always welcome once in a while :).

I forgot to take my camera to David's aunt's house for the wonderful roasted lamb they prepared. It was simply amazing! A 12kg lamb roasting for 5 hours on the fire. What more can you ask? The whole family (about 30 people) gathered together for this little celebration of the nice weather. We accompagnied it with Parmesan Eggplant (Melanzane alla parmigiana), greek salad, cesar salad, ensaladilla rusa and turkey salad. The sun was also invited and did grace us with his presence; a beautiful 25C :). Later on, we went to a Gallego restaurant for some awesome seafood (Navajas, Berberechos, Pulpo, Calamares, Merluza rellena...) with our fellow Canadian friends to bid farewell to Hani who's moving back to Canada, destination Winnipeg. Sunday was lunch at a cousin's house for ribs. So, as you can see, our weekend was filled with amazing food, but not from my kitchen (although, I did prepare the greek salad and eggplants ;)).

So back to my fridge and tiny kitchen. I had some spinach that I really needed to use and didn't feel like cooking them. At first it was going to be a typical catalan dish with pine nuts and raisins but I decided to just make a pesto using my pine nuts. David is not a big fan of pesto because he finds that basil tastes too strong. I figured that if I use the spinach, it will tone it down. I was right :) David liked it. I chose to add berberechos (a type of clam) to the pasta as I had it in Italy and loved it. My supper was ready before I knew it. Who knew cooking could be this easy?!

Spinach Pesto and Clams Linguini

Ingredients:

250grs of linguini
1 can of berberechos or clams
1 garlic clove
1 cup of spinach
2 tbsps of pine nuts
2 tbsps of parmesan cheese
2 tbsps of oil
salt
1 tsp of lemon juice (optional)


In a large pot, boil water with salt to cook the pasta. When it boils heavily, add the pasta and cook until al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a mixer, add the spinach, parmesan cheese, roasted pine nuts (roasted for 5 minutes in the oven), garlic clove, lemon juice, oil and salt.

Mix well. Add a bit more oil if needed. Remove from mixer. Looks like regular pesto here :)

Add the pesto to the drained pasta.

Mix well. Add the berberechos (I add them afterwards because mixing the pasta to coat it evenly with pesto will destroy the clams...)

Mix.

And there you have it. Simple :) Pesto is a great cooking sauce as it can be used with lots of different things, not only pasta. Have fun with it and experiment. Only good things can come out of it.

I have officially found my new pesto recipe approved by David :)