{"id":1150,"date":"2017-05-15T09:00:18","date_gmt":"2017-05-15T15:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/?post_type=recipe&p=1150"},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:59:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:59:20","slug":"pasta-al-pesto-recipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/2017\/05\/15\/pasta-al-pesto-recipe\/","title":{"rendered":"Pasta al Pesto"},"content":{"rendered":"

May 15, 2017<\/span><\/p>\n

Gardening at 8000 feet is challenging.\u00a0 Even more so when you consider that we are sitting on almost solid rock.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s not much soil to begin with, just the barest of covering on a rocky foundation.\u00a0 The pi\u00f1on and juniper that surround us work their roots through little crevices in the rock that sits just inches below the surface.<\/p>\n

What little soil there was in the area immediately surrounding our house was removed to level the building site.\u00a0 The excavation was almost exclusively rock, one hundred truck loads were taken away.\u00a0 Some rock was kept on site to create retaining walls around the property.<\/p>\n

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The corollary, however, is that there\u2019s no dirt around the house to dig into to plant much of anything.\u00a0 The landscaping that was done was exclusively within rock retaining walls or our front enclosed courtyard, where topsoil was brought in.\u00a0 The first load of topsoil for the courtyard arrived April 2007, before we were ready to plant anything.\u00a0 April is a windy month in New Mexico.\u00a0 The winds started up one day and before evening every last speck of topsoil was blown to West Texas!<\/p>\n

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We could consider raised bed gardening but that would just invite the rabbits and deer to munch their way through our garden.\u00a0 As it is, we\u2019ve offered up several stands of ornamental grasses on the periphery of our landscaped area to the critters.\u00a0 We seem to have reached a truce of some sort.\u00a0 We let them eat the ones around the edges and, for the most part, they let the others alone.<\/p>\n

We installed a greenhouse that allows us to extend the growing season by many months.\u00a0 It also allows us to winter over a number of plants that would not survive in this climate.\u00a0 The greenhouse also allows us to grow fig trees in large pots.\u00a0 The first year we grew figs, they didn\u2019t ripen.\u00a0 It turns out that even though summer days are warm, the nights are cool enough that the fruit doesn\u2019t ripen.\u00a0 The following year we left the fig trees in the greenhouse throughout the summer, convinced that it would be too warm for them to thrive even with the automatic ventilation system.<\/p>\n

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Luckily, we were wrong.\u00a0 The fig trees loved the heat.\u00a0 Picking a ripe fig off of the tree and eating it immediately is amazing.\u00a0 The only fresh fruit experience that would be superior, in my estimation, is a fresh-picked mango\u2026and those trees won\u2019t fit in our greenhouse!<\/p>\n

We have one row of planter boxes outside the greenhouse.\u00a0 We use these for plants, like tomatoes, that are not very attractive to deer and rabbits.\u00a0 Salad greens, such as arugula, radicchio, and leaf lettuce grows in shallow trays on a raised shelf in the greenhouse.\u00a0 Many pots of herbs also remain in the greenhouse year-round.\u00a0 Everything else is planted in our interior courtyard, either in pots or in another row of planter boxes.<\/p>\n

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Depending on the type of plants, we start planting seeds in February.\u00a0 Seedlings are transplanted once the risk of frost is minimal.<\/p>\n

This year, we started too much basil from seed.\u00a0 It\u00a0needed to be thinned.\u00a0 This created the opportunity for us to have pesto much earlier than would otherwise have been the case.\u00a0 Usually it\u2019s June before the basil plants have grown large enough that we can harvest leaves for pesto.<\/p>\n

We had this pesto on April 30th, a day that measured more than 8 inches of snow at Villa Sentieri.\u00a0 It was winter’s last hurrah and fresh pesto was a perfect way to welcome spring and say good-bye to winter.<\/p>\n

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Pasta al Pesto<\/h2>\n
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The classic basil-based pesto is Pesto alla Genovese. However, because the recipe and ingredients for Pesto alla Genovese are tightly regulated (for example, the basil must be grown in Genoa, Italy), I\u2019ll refrain from calling this Pesto alla Genovese since it can\u2019t meet those strict regulations. Try to use young, small basil leaves. If you must use larger ones, tear them into smaller pieces so they measure approximately the same way. Using olive oil from Liguria, where Pesto alla Genovese originated, is another of those difficult-to-meet requirements. Nonetheless, try to use a sweet, fruity olive oil rather than one that is spicy and pungent. Make the pesto as close to serving time as possible. I like to have all the ingredients measured, making the pesto after the pasta starts to a boil. If you\u2019re wondering about the use of a food processor, that would not be permitted either but I doubt there are many of us that would make pesto if we had to use the traditional marble mortar and wooden pestle!<\/div>\n
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Prep Time <\/span>30 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Cook Time <\/span>15 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Total Time <\/span>1 hour<\/span><\/span> hr<\/span> 15 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
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Servings: <\/span>6<\/span> people<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ingredients
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