Chopping board tomato and basil pesto pasta

This is so good, it's so fresh and only a handful of ingredients, and the pesto is made simply by roughly chopping together the tomato, basil and pine nuts.

Credit: Donal's Meals in Minutes

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  5 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 50 g pine nuts
• 400 g fresh pasta (penne, rigatoni or tortiglioni)
• 1 garlic clove
• 100 g bunch of basil, leaves picked
• 8-10 medium vine-ripened tomatoes
• 30 g Parmesan, finely grated
• 100-150 ml extra-virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and black pepper

Instructions

1. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil.
2. Place a small frying pan over a medium heat and add the pine nuts. Cook, moving them around, to toast lightly.
3. Add the pasta to the large pan and cook the pasta for 3 minutes until just al dente.
4. Meanwhile, crush the garlic and a good pinch of sea salt with the flat of a knife on a chopping board until smooth. Tip the toasted pine nuts onto the board with the garlic and roughly chop with the basil and tomatoes until you have a chunky mix.
5. Tip this into a large bowl along with the drained pasta, parmesan and olive oil. Mix until it’s completely coated in the pesto. Check the seasoning and serve.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.