Orecchiette with Pistachio Pesto, Courgettes and Cherry Tomatoes excerpted from Pasta Masterclass: Recipes for Spectacular Pasta Doughs, Shapes, Fillings and Sauces, from The Pasta Man by Mateo Zielonka. Photography by Dave Brown.
The Pasta Man is back, and this time he’s going BIGGER and BETTER. With over 30 brand new shapes for rolled, filled and extruded shapes, plus over 40 recipes for fillings and sauces, this is the ultimate cookbook for any pasta lover.
With over 250,000 Instagram followers loving his pictures and therapeutic videos of pasta-rolling, Mateo’s pasta is prettier than a picture. Now in Pasta Masterclass, Mateo reveals how you too can make his eye-catching, delicious creations. With “how to” sections guiding you through every shape and effect, including his famous colored doughs, step-by-step photos and QR codes linking to videos on every pasta shape included in the book, he then offers over 40 delicious recipes in which fill or coat your creations.
Illustrated with stunning photography and video content, let yourself be guided by a master and make your own pasta a work of art.
Orecchiette with Pistachio Pesto, Courgettes and Cherry Tomatoes
I absolutely love pistachios. Cracking them out of the shells to eat the roasted salted nut alongside an evening drink, baking ground pistachios in an olive oil cake with orange or lemon zest, blitzing them into a pesto to serve with pasta … Pistachios give this recipe a Sicilian edge and add more body to the pesto than pine nuts. I like to use ribbed Romana courgettes (zucchini) if I can find them, as they have such a lovely texture and flavour, but ordinary courgettes will work.
Serves 4
400 g/14 oz orecchiette (page 142)
30ml/2 tbsp olive oil
250 g/9 oz Romana courgettes (zucchini), cut into 1cm/½ in rings
160g/5¾ oz datterini or cherry tomatoes, halved
pecorino or Parmesan, to serve
For the pistachio pesto
40g/1½ oz shelled pistachios bunch of basil (about 30g/1 oz) handful of mint
juice of 1 lemon
150g/5½ oz olive oil
Vegan option
Serve with nutritional yeast or pangrattato (page 248) instead of pecorino or Parmesan
Toast the pistachios in a dry frying pan (skillet) over a medium-low heat, shaking the pan from time to time until they are golden. This should take about 5–7 minutes.
Blitz the pistachios in a food processor, then add the basil and lemon juice. Pulse again and slowly add the olive oil through the funnel in the lid. You will end up with a dark green sauce with flecks of pistachio – how smooth you make it is up to you. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, then transfer to
a bowl and leave to one side.
Heat the 30ml/2 tablespoons olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the courgettes (zucchini) and fry them until golden. You will need to turn them so that they cook evenly. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for a further 2 minutes – this will create steam inside the pan and will soften the courgettes.
Add the halved tomatoes and cook on a low heat for 5 minutes until the tomatoes have softened. Keep warm while you cook the orecchiette.
Bring a large pan of water to the boil, then season well with table salt. Drop in the pasta and cook for 2–3 minutes so that it retains some bite. Drain, reserving a jugful of pasta cooking water, and transfer the orecchiette to the pan of courgettes and tomatoes.
Now add the pesto and a generous splash of the pasta cooking water. Toss everything together well and check the seasoning before serving into warmed bowls. Finish each plate with finely grated pecorino or Parmesan.
Recipe reprinted with permission from Hardie Grant Books.