Spaghetti with spinach walnut pesto

Pesto is normally prepared with basil leaves and pine nuts. But I was looking for simple ingredients that are available in our kitchen pantry to prepare pesto. Finally I end up with spinach and walnuts. I loved the flavor of walnut with spinach.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 packet (240 grams) – White spaghetti / Whole wheat spaghetti
• 1 tsp – Olive oil
• Salt as needed
• 1 tsp – Butter (optional)

For spinach walnut pesto:

• 2 cups - Fresh baby spinach leaves
• 1/4 cup -  Walnuts (toasted)
• 2 cloves – Garlic (chopped)
• 2 to 3 tbsp – Olive oil
• 1/4 cup - Parmesan cheese (optional, I didn’t use it )
• Freshly ground black pepper as needed
• Salt as needed

Preparation method:

1. In a large pot, add water and bring it to boil, then add salt, spaghetti and a tsp of olive oil. Cook the spaghetti until tender. Once it’s cooked, drain and melt the butter throughout.
2. Meanwhile, heat a pan, toast the walnuts over medium flame. Set aside.In the same pan, add a drop of oil and roast garlic until there are slightly golden brown in color. Set aside.
3. Again in the same pan, drizzle few drops of oil and saute spinach for few seconds. Set aside.
4. Take a mixer grinder or food processor, add in toasted walnuts and garlic, blend it quickly. Then add the spinach and olive oil. Blend some more, stopping and scraping down the sides of the mixie jar, if necessary. Finally add parmesan cheese(if you decided to use), black pepper and required salt to it. Now pesto is ready.
5. Combine the pesto and the spaghetti well and serve immediately, with more pepper and parmesan cheese.

Notes:

• Usually spinach walnut pesto is prepared with raw spinach and garlic. Since I didn’t like to have it as a raw, I sauteed both spinach and garlic for few seconds. I wondered how it is going to taste but fortunately the flavor was very good.
• You can cook spaghetti as per the instruction given on the packet.
• I didn’t use any cheese in this recipe but the taste was awesome even without cheese.
• After cooking spaghetti, just drain the water completely and add a tsp of butter to it, give a quick toss so that the spaghetti is well coated with the melted butter. That helps avoiding stickiness from spaghetti.Otherwise wash spaghetti in cold running water thoroughly.

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