Pesto Pasta with Sun Dried Tomato and Feta

Dust off your food processor or take out the dear old mortar and pestle because it’s pesto-o-clock. A pesto brightens up any boring pasta recipe, converting naked noodles in a stupid sauce, to a flavor-packed silly basil-rific tomato-y concoction.

Directions

1. To make the pesto: Combine the basil and spinach with the nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. Add the garlic, pulse a few times more. Slowly add olive oil so it streams into the basil, while the processor is still on. The green will probably be all splattered around the processor like Kermit on a bad trip, so turn off periodically to scrape the sides with a spatula. Add salt, pepper, lemon zest and grated cheese. Processor it until everything is blended.

One of the best Feta cheese brands I’ve found in Buenos Aires: queso “tipo feta” from Quesos Juan Grande (can find it in Barrio Chino)

2. To make the pasta: Cook the pasta. While it’s boiling, rehydrate the sun dried tomatoes. Sauté the cherry tomatoes in a bit of olive oil & sprinkle with salt (just so it’s lightly cooked). In a sauté pan, combine pasta, tomatoes, pesto and feta – mix for a few minutes until everything is heated. Add a bit of crumbled feta on top and serve that mother.

Ingredients:

Pesto

• 3 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• 1 cup baby spinach (optional)
• 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan (or Romano cheese)
• 1/3 cup good olive oil
• 1/4 cup pine nuts (I used almonds, you could also use walnuts)
• 1/2 teaspoons of lemon zest
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

• Fusilli or bow tie pasta
• 10 Sun dried tomatoes (either already packed in oil or rehydrated by boiling)
• 1/4 cup cherry tomatoes, halved 
• Crumbled Feta
• Black Olives (optional)

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