fettuccine with pesto and burrata

So - I pretty much only eat pesto based meals these days... But that is what happens when the tomatoes are ripe and the basil is plentiful. A few weeks ago I bought a giant pot of basil from Aubuchon for $7. Since then I've been swimming in basil. I can make two batches without barely making a dent.

Saturday - Cod with basil mint pesto
Sunday - no pesto
Monday - parmesan seared cod with zucchini pesto
Tuesday - bfast sandwich
Wed - bfast sandwich
Thurs - no pesto. it's a miracle
Friday - lunch and dinner
Saturday - lunch and dinner

After several different iterations of pesto based meals, I came upon this combination during a work from home day lunch. It is one of those meals, that make you say talk to yourself about how good it is. I know because I did just that. I think I proceeded to remake this meal about three more times. It is a pure home run of knockout flavors and textures and summer. Here are some notes:

  • Pasta // While I'm not one to avoid gluten regularly, I did use gluten free pasta here. It is by no means the same as fresh pasta... but it is not that far off from regular boxed pasta... and a million times more enjoyable than whole wheat pasta. You can just keep that to yourself.
  • Pesto // I've been known to make shortcuts on traditional pesto purely because I'll just forget ingredients. When I made these two fish dishes, I casually forgot the nuts and the lemon juice - both are pretty important if you are trying to be traditional. In this case, I stuck to the standard I first made back in 2012.
  • Tomatoes // I'm normally very generous with my tomatoes... but it'll be hard to get me to give away any of these beautiful black cherries. They are so amazing. I can't get enough of them.
  • Burrata // I believe nearly all meals would be made better by burrata. It was pretty disappointing to realize what a serving size of buratta is... I think they want you to share one ball between four people? Ludicrous. In this case, it makes sense to just use a half ball for one person. You could do less if you are trying to be healthy or something like that.
  • Plating decor // After plating the main ingredients (pasta, tomatoes, burrata), I sprinkled a bit of basil and lemon zest over the top along with a bit of Himalayan pink salt.

As a testament to how quickly this will come together, I managed to make it and eat it all within about 23 minutes. That includes the boiling of the water, cooking the pasta, and running to the garden for the basil. If we are being honest, I actually did the last 5 minutes of it during a conference call. It should have been a video call but nobody needs to watch me eat my lunch.

  1. Using a food processor, prep and make your pesto. Follow this recipe here. I used walnuts for this pesto.
  2.  Cook your pasta to your preferred tenderness. I like it a little al dente for summer salads like this. Toss the cooked and drained pasta in a few tablespoons of pesto (per person). No rules here, if you want more pesto, just do it.
  3. Plate the pasta with some freshly cut garden tomatoes and a half ball of burrata. 
  4. Drizzle the plate with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with basil, lemon zest, and a bit of salt. 
Shopping List
basil
grated parmesan
garlic
lemon
lemon juice
walnuts
burrata
cherry tomatoes
pasta of your choice

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