I'm helpless with plants, I guess I haven't been blessed with the green thumb my mum and sister have. But I do my best to improve though, I was in charge of the plants last week while my sister was on holidays, and I can proudly say that all of them survived!
We even started a little aromatic herbs garden a few month ago. In mine I chose mint, thym and rosemary. Let me tell you, my thym did not survived very long, I don't know if it was too much in the sun or if it needs more water. But the rosemary and the mint are growing, so I'm guessing they are not picky plants.
I actually have so much mint, that i'm trying to come up with new recipe, or use them in drinks like the virgin mojito. On an impulse buy I got myself some Orecchiette, because even if i like making my own pasta, I'm not good enough to shape anything else than Linguine or Tagliatelle. Sometimes it's good to make a change and I found those pretty.
So with my pretty pasta and the herbs garden, the first thing that came in mind was to make a pesto, just a different kind, because it's a mint pesto. I really enjoyed it and I hope you will too. Green being the color of hope, you can never have enough of it in your plates.
Orecchiette with Mint Pesto
Serves 1
60gr of Orecchiette
3 Tablespoons of Fresh Mint
1 Tablespoon of Fresh Basil
1 Tablespoon of Fresh Parsley
1 Tablespoon of Pine Nuts
1 Tablespoon of Parmesan, grated
2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon of Lemon Juice
Salt, Pepper
In a non-sticky frying pan, let the pine nuts roast until they have a golden color.
I used a mortar and pestle, but you can also whizz everything together in a blender I guess, I just needed to get some frustration out ;)
So in the mortar, put the mint, basil and parsley with a bit of salt and work it until a have a green paste consistency. Add the roasted pine nuts to it and try to blend them in, before adding the olive oil.
Transfert the mixture to an other bowl and add the lemon juice and the parmesan. Season with more salt, pepper or lemon juice to your taste.
I did not use any garlic on purpose, to keep the taste more "fresh", but i'm sure it would work with it too.
Cook your orecchiette into a large pan of salted water for 12 minutes (or check what the package says), drain them and toss them into the pesto. Give it a good stir and place them on the serving plate. I like to add some freshly grated parmesan on top.
