A nice, healthy meal adaptable for both lunch and dinner. Ideal to fill you up before a game or to surprise your date with on a date night in. You can't go wrong with this dish.
DINNER/LUNCH - 4 servings
INGREDIENTS
300g Farfalle pasta
150g Cherry tomatoes
75g Lettuce
FOR THE PESTO
you can use pre made pesto if you're short on time
2.5 Garlic cloves
A handful of basil leaves
100g Pinenuts
Olive oil
Grated cheese (any, but Parmesan is most common. You can use vegan grated cheese to make the dish vegan)
METHOD
1. Cook the farfalle according to the package. While it is heating up, cut the tomatoes in quarts.
2. For the pesto, start by putting the pine nuts in a mortar and crush the pine nuts until it's closer to a powder than to nuts. Make somewhat turning movements while crushing to release all the flavour and be able to crush better.
3. Add the garlic cloves (cut in half beforehand to make it easier to crush) and crush them. Add the basil leaves and again, with somewhat turning movements, crush them. You'll know you're doing a good job when it releases a bit of a green color into the mixture.
4. Add olive oil and the grated cheese to the mixture. You've got to kind of eyeball this as it depends on your preference for thickness and consistency of the pesto. More oil is a somewhat runnier and thinner pesto and more cheese is a thick pesto.
5. Mix the pesto and tomatoes into the pasta. Make sure to do this right before serving as the tomatoes will still be slightly cold.
6. Lay out the lettuce on the plates as shown in the picture above and put the pasta on top of it.
7. Serve.
TIPS
If you can't find any basil, use spinach instead. It's a slightly different taste but just as good as it is with basil.
If you're making ahead, store the tomatoes and lettuce apart from the pasta and add when served.
Make it a lunch salad by letting the pasta cool down before serving.
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