Do you want a nice pasta dish? Good. All you need to do is pick up a select few ingredients the next time you’re at the supermarket and spend 20 minutes in the kitchen. When you’re finished, you’ll be enjoying a very flavorful and robust fettuccine pasta that’ll fill you right up. That’s for sure.
The Recipe
Do you want to know the weirdest thing? Whenever I make any type of pesto, I never know what’s going to be on the other end of the process. Each time I’m finished pulsing the food processor, I dip the tip of my spoon into the green mixture. Sometimes what I taste is bland and sometimes it knocks my socks off. It really all depends on the ingredients.
The pesto I prepared for this dish is somewhere in the middle. It has a grown up taste that’s smooth and complex. I believe the complexity comes from the many different types of greens used. Each has a distinctly different taste and each one can definitely be tasted. It’s pretty cool.
I’ve never prepared a pesto that uses cashews as the base nut before. I must say, it’s a very good idea. They’re wonderful, especially when they’re toasted.
Ingredients
Serves: 6
1/2 Cup Raw Cashews
1 Small Jalapeno Pepper, Cleaned and Minced
1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
2 Teaspoons Garlic, Minced
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Coriander
1/3 Cup Peanut Oil
3 Tablespoons Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, Plus Extra
2 Cups Packed Cilantro Leaves
1/3 Cup Packed Mint Leaves
1/3 Cup Parsley Leaves
1/3 Cup Packed Basil Leaves
1 1/2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
Salt
Ground Black Pepper
1 Pound Dried Fettuccine Pasta
Step-by-Step Instructions
I’d like to thank Williams-Sonoma and their resource called Complete Seasons Cookbook for this recipe. This is the third or fourth recipe Laura and I pulled from this book and I have to tell you that I’m thrilled with it. This is an excellent pasta dish.
Toast the Cashews
Warm a small skillet over medium heat. Then, add the cashews, a drizzle of olive oil and toast, while flipping, for a few minutes until you begin to smell them. Once finished, remove from heat.
Make the Pesto
Add the cashews to a food processor and process them until they’re completely ground.
Once finished, add in the jalapeno pepper, garlic, ginger, coriander, peanut oil, olive oil, cilantro, mint, parsley, basil, lemon juice, a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper to the processor. Basically, everything except for the pasta. Process all these ingredients until smooth.
Cook the Pasta
Fill a large pot with 4 quarts of water and 1 tablespoon of salt. Bring to a boil. When the water is boiling, add the pasta to the pot. Cook, while stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until the pasta is tender but firm. While the pasta is cooking, scoop out a cup of water from the pot and save for later.
When the pasta is done, turn off the heat and drain the water in a colander. Right after that, pour the pasta from the colander into a large bowl.
Drizzle some extra-virgin olive oil over the pasta and stir it up so it stays loose.
Combine Ingredients
Add the pesto to the bowl with the Fettuccine in it. Mix everything together well. If things get too dry, slowly add some of the reserved water to the mix.
Divide & Serve
Divide the pasta and pesto between the plates while still warm. Serve and enjoy.
The Final Fettuccine & Mint Pesto Dish
The best part about this dish is how much pesto was added to it. I’ve eaten different pasta dishes where it seemed like the recipe creator was scared of too much pesto. Not this one. The noodles are completely covered and it’s really an enjoyable meal. Thanks for reading!
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