Monday, April 16, 2007

Pesto with Fresh Egg Noodles



During my trip to Arthur Avenue, the Italian neighborhood in the Bronx, I visited a place called Borgatti's. All they do there is make fresh pasta of different varieties. People were ordering pounds of fresh pasta and ravioli as well as sheets of pasta to make homemade specialties.

When you order fresh noodles at Borgatti's, they take sheets of fresh pasta and ask what width noodles you would like. I didn't really know what size I wanted, so I picked a width somewhere in the middle, probably equivalent to a store bought linguine.

They take the pasta sheets and put them through their industrial sized noodle machine. Low and behold, the noodle sheets came out the other end of the machine in noodle form and in a big heap. After a dusting of semolina flour to keep them from sticking, they wrapped the noodles in paper and weighed them... I think the total came out to $1.73 and the quantity was over a pound. Mmm.. fresh egg noodles!



I was advised not to keep the noodles in the fridge for more than two days. So I had to decide quickly what to make with them. I hadn't made pesto in a long time and it sounded like it would be very good with my fresh noodles.

Pesto Sauce
Makes enough sauce for 1 lb of pasta

Ingredients
1 cup of Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of pine nuts
1 large handful of fresh basil
6 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 cup of olive oil

Combine cheese, pine nuts, basil, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor. Add olive oil slowly to the mixture. You can blend the mixture until it is smooth, or leave it roughly chopped, it just depends on your preference. Either way, the end result will taste delicious.

Fresh pasta only takes about 5 minutes to cook. Once the noodles are done, pour sauce over them, and stir over heat until all the pasta has some sauce on it. Serve piping hot!

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