Our love for fresh pesto is well established. As we described in an article from years ago:
Pesto is simple and beautiful. Its primary ingredient, basil, grows like a weed in the summer heat. With one lively plant, you can dine weekly on fresh pesto. Basil’s sweet, slightly menthol flavor mixes divinely with rich, buttery olive oil. And, the other ingredients – garlic, pine nuts and cheese – are no taste slouches themselves.
It’s August: our garden is booming. So, tonight, we made fresh pesto, tossed it with penne pasta, and topped it with sauteed shrimp and cherry tomatoes. The pesto recipe belongs to me. Here it is.
The shrimp recipe was invented just now by our very enterprising and creative wife. who has surpassed us in cooking ability and in looks. Well, she was always ahead of us in looks, so maybe, that can’t be called surpassing. Regardless, here’s how she sauteed shrimp and cherry tomatoes.
Basil Pesto
Ingredients
- 2 cups of packed basil leaves
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped into quarters
- 1/2 cup of olive oil
- 1/4 cup of pine nuts
- 1/2 cup of grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- Course sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste.
Directions
Add the basil, pine nuts and garlic into a food processor or chopper. (We use the KitchenAid 3.5-cup Food Chopper). Press the pulse button three to four times. Use a spatula to scrape down any kicked-up mixture. Slowly pour olive oil into the machine while intermittently hitting the pulse button. Add the grated cheese. Press the pulse button a final time. Season. Enjoy!
Sauteed Shrimp and Cherry Tomatoes
Ingredients
- One cup of cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1/2 tablespoon of butter
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 8-10 shrimp (We used Argentine red shrimp)
- One teaspoon of red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
Place a lightly oiled skillet over medium heat. Add in cherry tomatoes. Cook until the tomatoes are almost bursting. Remove tomatoes onto a separate plate and, set aside.
Season shrimp with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Add butter to skillet, then shrimp. Cook shrimp on one side for two minutes. Flip shrimp. Add garlic. Cook for another minute. Stir in tomatoes, cooking until shrimp is done.
Serve over penne with pesto. Top with grated Pecorino Romano cheese.
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