Who loves carbs? I do, I do! No matter the situation, a healthy serving of bread or pasta will make me a happy person- especially if I’m hangry! I especially love lighter versions of pasta, like this Walnut Sage Pesto Linguine. Making your own pesto has never been easier with this recipe that boasts roasted walnuts that are then chopped and mixed into fresh sage, parsley and olive oil. It’s a great meal for a summer night or even a springtime lunch. Oh, and it’s super easy!
Ingredients
1 box of dried linguine
1/2 cup of walnut pieces
1/2 cup of chopped parsley, fresh
2 TBL packed sage leaves, fresh
2 glove garlic
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/3 cups fresh parmesan cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350. Pour walnuts out onto a cookie sheet in even layer and then bake for 8-10 minutes to roast. They should have a light fragrance and then you’ll know to remove from the oven. Once removed, let them cool.
Bring a large pot of water to boil and add linguine noodles to begin cooking.
While your noodles are doing their thing, begin making your pesto. In a small food processor, combine chopped parsley, sage leaves, salt, black pepper, chopped garlic and the cooled walnuts.
Blend until mixture is coarse. Then add in the olive oil, pulsing about halfway through to mix it together well. Then add in about 6 tablespoons (of the overall 1/2 cup) of parmesan cheese and mix again.
Pour out pesto into a large bowl. It will be pretty thick, so don’t worry!
Start adding in 1/3 cup of the cooking water from your linguine at a time, to begin thinning out your pesto. You don’t want thick pesto, but you also don’t want runny either. Make sure it’s thin enough to coat your linguine, but also not slip all the way off.
Once you consistency is to your fancy, your linguine should be about done. Pour pot of noodles in a strainer and then dump all the noodles in the large bowl containing the pesto.
Take large tongs and begin mixing linguine into pesto, making sure to coat evenly. Serve onto plates and top with remaining (or more!) parmesan cheese!
There you have it! A super easy pesto dish that’s actually pretty healthy, thanks to no cream. I hope you enjoy!
This recipe adapted from Fitness Magazine’s Linguine with Walnut-Sage Pesto recipe.