Pasta with Homemade Pesto and Roasted Grape Tomatoes

I’m house sitting, again. I have lots of time to cook, again. This time I was inspired by some incredible fresh basil growing in the garden; I couldn’t resist making pesto.

Here’s what you’ll need to make enough pesto for 2 servings of pasta which ended up being about 2/3 cup pesto:

1.5 – 2 cups basil leaves

3 – 4 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove of garlic, peeled

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons pine nuts

1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

I’m all about cooking with as few dishes to wash as possible so I used an immersion (stick) blender to make my pesto. Although it was minimal dishes and was perfect for a small portion, I did have to get creative and fashion a little cover so that the pesto wouldn’t get everywhere when I was blending.

Start with just the garlic and salt and blend it as much as you can, then add the basil leaves.

        

Blend for a couple seconds and then add half the oil.

Add the cheese and pine nuts and the remainder of the oil and blend until smooth.

        

Bam! Delicious fresh pesto in under 5 minutes.

While I was making the pesto, my tomatoes were on the grill.

All I did with the tomatoes was cut them in half and put them in a round pan with about 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, a clove of finely chopped garlic. and a sprinkle of salt.

I shook them around a bit to coat them in the oil and then I just popped the pan on the grill. I would’ve loved to spash some balsamic vinegar on those suckers, but this isn’t my kitchen and I couldn’t find any. I waited until the skins were shriveled (about 7 mins). Halfway through, I threw some marinated artichoke hearts in the pan to heat them up.

 

Brats are one of my favourite summer foods, there so quick to cook, they taste great and they can go on top of practically anything. I grilled one of those up and cut it to top the pasta.

Here’s my finished dinner, I chose whole wheat rotini as my pasta, to get some whole grains into my system. I have a terrible soft spot for junk food, although I starting to train myself to eat better, ergo whole wheat pasta… I know very small step, but it gives me peace of mind anyway.