Easy Pasta Dishes Biography

Source(google.com.pk)
Walnut & red pepper pesto pasta

Ingredients

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Cook the pasta following pack instructions. Meanwhile, toast the walnuts in a dry pan for a few mins. Add half the walnuts to the small bowl of a food processor or a hand chopper, along with the red peppers, Parmesan, garlic, basil, oil and some seasoning. Whizz to a paste, adding a splash of water from the pasta if it is a little dry.
Drain the pasta, reserving a cup of the cooking water. Return the pasta to the pan and set over a low heat. Add the pesto, mascarpone and 3-4 tbsp of the reserved pasta water, then stir until the mascarpone has melted, adding a splash more pasta water if the sauce needs thinning. To serve, crush the remaining walnuts in your hand and scatter over the pasta with a few more basil leaves and some extra Parmesan.

6 roasted garlic cloves (use leftovers from our roast pepper & chorizo salad dish - recipe right)
4 roasted red peppers (use leftovers from our roast pepper & chorizo salad dish - recipe right)
1 tsp cayenne pepper
75g blanched almonds, roughly chopped
50g Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative), roughly chopped, plus extra for serving (optional)
2 tbsp olive oil
400g pasta (we used tripolini)
large pack basil leaves

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Remove the skin from the roasted garlic cloves. In the small bowl of a food processor, whizz the roasted peppers, garlic, cayenne, almonds, Parmesan and oil until it makes a rough pesto consistency. Taste and season.
Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the pasta following pack instructions. Drain, reserving a little cooking water. Return the pasta to the pan with the pesto, basil and a little of the cooking water, then heat through. Serve with extra Parmesan, if you like.

Ingredients

large bunch basil
50g pine nuts
50g Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative), grated, plus extra to serve (optional)
2 garlic cloves
100ml olive oil

KIDS the writing in bold is for you. GROWN-UPS the rest is for you. Pick the basil for the pesto. Get your child to pick the basil leaves off the stalks. Ask them to look at and smell the leaves as you tell them the name of the herb until they remember it – try to do this with all herbs when you can.
Make the pesto. Toast the pine nuts in a pan over a low heat. A child of seven years plus can stir the nuts in the pan. Tip into a mini chopper (or use a pestle and mortar) with the basil, Parmesan, garlic and olive oil. Blitz or pound into a green sauce, then set aside.
Chop up the beans. Using the child-friendly knife, get children from the age of five to chop the green beans into shorter lengths, and quarter the potatoes. Younger children can snap the beans into short lengths while you prepare the potatoes.
Cook the vegetables and pasta Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add the potatoes and boil for 3 mins. Remove from the heat and ask the child to tip in the pasta and give it a stir. Put the pan back on the heat, boil the pasta for 5 mins, add the beans and cook for a final 3 mins.
Mix everything together. Drain everything well and tip into a bowl. Spoon most of the pesto into the pasta and stir everything together to coat. Bring the large bowl of pasta to the table and serve with extra Parmesan, more basil and remaining pesto, if you like.