Tagliatelle with Green Herb Pistou

One of my favorite vegetables is...flat leaf parsley. I know it is technically an herb and not a vegetable, but in my kitchen it gets treated like a green. I use it equally as a base for salads or as a garnish or base for a pasta sauce. Ounce per ounce it has more iron than kale, and is packed with important minerals and vitamins - potassium, calcium, manganese, and magnesium in addition to vitamins A, C and most of the Bs - as well as being a great source of anti-oxidants. But the truth is, I love it for the taste!

I buy a bunch of it at least once a week and sometimes that isn't enough. Along with cilantro, it is the green that you will always find in my refrigerator. But if you are not a certified parsley lover like myself, there are lots of ways to prepare it to get all of the benefits without having to chew on it like a rabbit, as I am known to do!

Here I pounded parsley, cilantro, salt, garlic and walnuts to create a pesto-pistou concoction. Pesto simply means "pounded" in Italian and while most people associate it with basil pesto with cheese and pine nuts, pistou is the cheese-less, nut-less vesion from Provencal. Deeming this a pistou is fair but a bit of stretch since I included cilantro and some walnuts to cut the zing of the fresh garlic. No matter what you call it, it was delicious! Pulling some homemade tagliatelle out of the freezer made it a quick and cheap dinner - priceless in my book!

I will be sending this to Claire at Chez Cayenne for Presto Pasta Nights. Enjoy!

 Tagliatelle with Green Herb Pistou
serves 2

1 cup parsley, minced
1/3 cup cilantro, minced
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon walnuts
2 tablespoons olive oil
black pepper
1/3 lb fresh tagliatelle

Bring well salted pot of water to boil. In mortar in pestle pound garlic, herbs and salt until it forms a paste, mashing garlic to blend well. Add walnuts and mix well. Add olive oil 1/2 tablespoon at a time to blend well. Add pepper to taste. Cook pasta until al dente and drain. Return to pot and add pistou and stir to coat. Serve.

Hugs!

Recipes currently inspiring me:

Cream of Green Bean Casserole Soup at The Well-Seasoned Cook
Salmon, Smoked Salmon and Potato Gratin at Thyme for Cooking
Linguine with Scallops and Meyer Lemon at Blue Kitchen