Rich Spiced Tomato & Aubergine Pasta with Pesto | Rebel Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Should I add pesto to hot pasta? ›

Just be aware that exposing pesto to too much heat for too long will change its flavour. Whenever possible, therefore, we add it right at the end of the cooking process to minimise any flavour loss.

Mix pesto into creamy dips, use it as a pizza sauce, spread it on sandwiches, add it to your favorite salads, toss it with roasted summer vegetables, and use it as a sauce for grilled chicken or grilled fish.

To upgrade your favorite brand of pesto, turn it into a rich cream sauce by sauteing onions, garlic, seasonings, heavy cream, and shredded cheese. You can customize to your tastes by swapping onions for shallots, grated parmesan for shredded asiago, or a sprinkle of fresh herbs.

The primary ingredients in pesto — basil and olive oil — are sensitive to heat. Basil can lose its vibrant color and fresh flavor when exposed to high temperatures, turning it a darker, more muted green. Olive oil can also lose some of its health benefits and can develop a bitter taste when heated excessively.

PESTO SHOULD NEVER BE “COOKED”. If you cook Pesto Sauce, you change the make up of the fresh basil and cause it to turn darker in color. It is best to warm it up and use it at room temperature. If it needs to be thinned out, you can do so by adding a little water, chicken stock, cream or white wine.

Italian Tradition

Pesto is the perfect sauce to enjoy with a dish of trofie (the traditional Ligurian short pasta), lasagna, potato gnocchi or as a topping for a bowl of minestrone.

According to Italian traditional eating habits, pasta al pesto is served as a first course; after it you can have any second (meat, poultry, fish) with or without side order. But AFTER it, not together! I'd say a Vermentino Ligure as wine, and a salad.

As you would expect, pesto's wider variety of ingredients means it does slightly better in the vitamin and mineral stakes. Pesto outsmarts tomato sauce in many of these, but the pasta sauce still provides a sizeable chunk of your recommended daily targets.

Yes, pesto can be used straight from the jar and doesn't require cooking or heating. In fact, we actively discourage applying too much heat to pesto, as this will destroy many of the fresh flavours that producers work so hard to retain.

Why does my pesto pasta taste bland? ›

Why is my pesto bland? It's likely because you need to add more basil or salt. You want your pesto to taste slightly too salty - that way when it's mixed with pasta the dish won't be bland.

Before draining the pasta, reserve some of the starchy pasta water. Then, add 1/4 cup of this pasta water back into the pot with your pesto, and stir to thin the pesto. Toss in the cooked pasta, and mix until the pesto thoroughly coats it.

So, for a standard, single serving of 75g of dried pasta, we think that 50g of pesto is about right. Naturally, everyone's tastes are different, so you'll have to adjust the quantities up or down depending on who you are cooking for. It also greatly depends on what other ingredients you are serving your pasta with.