Basil Pesto Fusilli

Instructions

1. Boil the fusilli in salted water, draining it 2 minutes before the time on the package. Toss with olive oil in a bowl.
2. Pick the basil leaves off the stems.
3. Finely chop the sun-dried tomatoes, setting a little aside for garnish.
4. In a blender, combine the basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Grate in the lemon zest and blend until smooth to make the pesto.
5. In a bowl, mix the pesto with the chopped sun-dried tomatoes and olive oil.
6. Add the boiled fusilli and grated parmesan, tossing to coat evenly.
7. Plate and top with the remaining cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil leaves.

Tips

• A simple summer recipe that doesn’t require standing over the stove — just boil the pasta and toss everything together.
• For a tangier finish, mix a bit more chopped sun-dried tomato, grated cheese, and olive oil into the pesto.
• You can swap the pine nuts for pecans, almonds, cashews, or pistachios. Toasting them lightly in a dry pan (no oil) over low heat mellows any fridge smell and boosts the nutty flavor.
• You can make a similar pesto with arugula, kale, water dropwort greens, mugwort, cilantro, or perilla leaves — whatever leafy greens you have on hand.
• Store leftover pesto in a container, topped with a layer of olive oil, and refrigerate — it keeps for about a week.

Basil Pesto Fusilli
Equipment: pot, blender, mixing bowl, knife, cutting board
Ingredients (1 serving)

- fusilli 100g
- sun-dried tomatoes 20g
- parmesan cheese 3 tbsp, grated
- olive oil 4 tbsp
- salt 1 tbsp (for pasta water)
- basil 100g
- parmesan cheese 50g
- pine nuts 40g
- garlic 2 cloves
- lemon 1 zest
- olive oil 50ml
- salt a pinch
- black pepper a pinch

Instructions
1. Boil the fusilli in salted water, draining it 2 minutes before the time on the package. Toss with olive oil in a bowl.
2. Pick the basil leaves off the stems.
3. Finely chop the sun-dried tomatoes, setting a little aside for garnish.
4. In a blender, combine the basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Grate in the lemon zest and blend until smooth to make the pesto.
5. In a bowl, mix the pesto with the chopped sun-dried tomatoes and olive oil.
6. Add the boiled fusilli and grated parmesan, tossing to coat evenly.
7. Plate and top with the remaining cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil leaves.

https://hong-recipe.pages.dev/en/recipes/basil-pesto-fusilli/