Ingredients
- Salt, for the pasta water
- 1/2 cup fresh picked mint leaves
- 1/2 cup fennel fronds
- 1/2 cup fresh picked basil leaves
- 1 cup fresh picked parsley
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons salt packed capers, soaked,rinsed and drained
- 4 medium plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes, plus extra for garnish
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Sea salt
- 1 pound ziti
- 1 cup freshly grated locatelli pecorino
Directions
Bring 6 quarts water to a rolling boil and add 2 tablespoons of salt.
In a blender, place the mint, fennel fronds, basil, parsley, garlic, capers, tomatoes, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and half of the olive oil. Process in short bursts until roughly chopped. Turn blender on full speed and drizzle in the remaining oil. Process until almost smooth, about 1 minute. Remove the resulting pesto from the blender and place in a large bowl. Set aside for 1 hour.
Cook the pasta according to the package directions until just al dente. Drain well and place the cooked pasta in the bowl with the pesto, and toss like a salad to coat. Sprinkle the pasta with the grated locatelli pecorino and chili flakes.and serve.
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By steveval01_12365570
Tampa, 56
on June 26, 2011
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I tried it - it came out well. I followed the recipe as written - if you don't want that much heat, it's easily taken care of by backing off on the red pepper, or omitting it entirely. I'm always wondering how anyone can give a review of any recipe when there have been so many changes made that the end result is maybe remotely close to the original.
By rebeccacherry
Hillsboro, OR
on June 10, 2011
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i kinda did what was written but more just threw in the herbs as i saw fit for the amount of pesto i needed. mostly i used fennel fronds, then parsley, then mint and basil. i left out the tomatoes and red pepper flakes. i eyeballed the olive oil amount. the best thing was the addition of silvered almonds and pistachios. wow that made a delicious difference. the blend of herbs was really subtle and just unique enough to make it enjoyable rather than "interesting". i tossed the pesto with spaghetti squash and sweet Italian chicken sausage.
By tjm3000_12506890
San Diego, 43
on January 01, 2010
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My husband and I enjoy trying new pesto variations but we both thought this one was a bit strange. It isn't really bad and the herbal flavors were interesting but we just didn't think they melded well together.
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