Mangia Con Elena

  Springtime Pasta with Pesto and Peas IG: @mangia.con.elena The calendar says Mid-April but it sure doesn't feel like it outside. The last few weeks have been cold, snowy, rainy and windy.  If it wasn't green outside, then I needed to make something that would perk me up and get me thinking "Spring." This pesto pasta is the perfect dish to brighten your spirits.  There are many variations of pesto depending on the herbs and greens that are used to the different nuts.  I go into more detail in an earlier blog post where I shared a recipe of "arugula pesto pasta." This pesto is a combination of basil, parsley, toasted walnuts and grated Pecorino Romano along with the traditional ingredients of garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. The result is a flavourful, fresh and creamy pesto to add to your pasta.   Never heat the pesto before adding it to pasta. The  heat will cook the basil, destroying its aroma and the cheese will clump. We definitely don't want that

  Arugula Pesto Pasta with Pancetta IG: @mangia.con.elena Pinterest: Mangia Con Elena There are so many varieties of pesto and each and every one of them is delicious. Pesto Genovese is the traditional pesto that originated in Liguria and is named after its capital city Genoa. Pesto is a derivative of the verb pestare which means"to ground or crush" with a mortar and pestle. The history of pesto is quite fascinating and like so many other Italian dishes was born out of poverty and necessity. The impoverished would forage for basil growing wild and crush them  with large amounts of garlic and olive oil, pine nuts and cheese. The Genovese take pesto so seriously that they have competitions bi-annually to determine the best pesto producers! As time went on and the world began to experience pesto it became more diverse and now pesto has evolved to include many herbs and greens and a variety of nuts and vegetables.  My most favourite pesto is comprised of arugula, some basil, toas