By Lizzie Moss
I will not claim for a moment that using pistachio in any dish is revolutionary. But unlike most of you (I can only imagine), it has been many years since I had the pleasure of roaming the cobblestoned streets of a southern Italian village, indulging in upwards of three local gelatos a day.
And unlike most of you (I can only imagine), it’s also been months since I had the pleasure of roaming the fluorescent light-bathed aisles of LaManna, indulging in upwards of three cream-filled pastries a day.
It is a tough life, here in the west but alas, we beat on…
We survive with supermarket-brand packets of pistachio and the one afternoon of sunshine Melbourne has blessed us with. When I say things are a 15 minute meal I haven’t officially timed that start to finish. But I started cooking about 35 minutes before we were supposed to leave for something and managed to finish the dish, eat the dish, curl my hair, put the washing out and unpack two of the three trays in the dishwasher. So I’m making a healthy assumption it was a 15 minute meal.
When I made this I didn’t intend to eat it, as I was on the way to a party. I simply taste-tested.
The pasta was good. It was so good, I finished three quarters of the bowl and contemplated not going to the party.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 80g of pistachiosOne clove of garlic
- One tablespoon of salt
- A large handful of basil
- A small handful of parsley
- 15g of parmigiano reggiano
- 5–10g of pecorino
- A couple of tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 ball of burrata
- 500g of dried orecchiette or similar pasta
Method:
- In a small blender or using a mortar and pestle, crush and combine the garlic, salt and pistachios, until they form a crumb.
- Add the basil and parsley and blitz until combined.
- Use a spoon to stir in the cheese and add the oil.
- Adjust the salt, cheese and herbs to taste.
- In a pan or bowl, off the heat, spoon the pesto.
- When the pasta is a few minutes off finished add to the pan with a ladle of pasta water.
- Stir quickly to combine, adding the water as you need.
- Finish by sprinkling a handful of pistachios and the burrata.
