[1 - 1] hey what's up everybody welcome back
[1 - 3] it's 93 degrees in st
[3 - 5] louis today and it's also after the
[5 - 7] fourth of july so to me that means one
[7 - 10] thing it's the dog days of summer here in st
[10 - 12] it's the dog days of summer here in st louis and other than being sweaty most
[12 - 14] the height of summer to me always means
[14 - 15] a really bountiful garden today we're
[16 - 17] going to go outside i'm going to grab
[17 - 18] some fresh basil we're going to turn it
[18 - 19] into a really nice
[19 - 21] dignified pesto and then we're going to
[21 - 23] turn that into a really easy to make
[23 - 26] light summer pasta so stick around let's
[37 - 37] so we can't get started on this recipe
[37 - 39] until we answer one very simple question
[40 - 42] what in the h makes a good pesto this is
[42 - 44] a simple question for me it comes down
[44 - 46] to four things number one is fresh
[46 - 49] aromatic very tender very sweet basil
[49 - 51] number two is a high quality salty aged
[51 - 53] cheese like parmesan or pecorino
[53 - 55] preferably nothing that's pre-ground
[55 - 56] that can get a little bit stale number
[56 - 57] three is a soft aromatic
[58 - 60] nut that's not rancid or stale number
[61 - 62] extra virgin olive oil so to start this
[62 - 64] pesto we're gonna preheat a medium sized
[64 - 66] saute pan over medium heat once we're
[66 - 68] preheated we're gonna add one tablespoon
[68 - 70] of a neutral oil and then 100 grams of
[71 - 73] walnuts the pan should be hot enough so the
[73 - 74] the pan should be hot enough so the walnuts sizzle right away once those
[74 - 75] nuts are sizzling and frying a little
[76 - 76] bit we're gonna hit them with a little
[76 - 78] bit of salt to make them extra savory
[78 - 80] after about two minutes of frying our
[80 - 81] walnuts are gonna start to take on some
[81 - 83] color the reason i'm frying these
[83 - 84] instead of dry roasting them in the oven
[84 - 86] is the oil here helps the heat penetrate
[86 - 88] further and faster into the nut
[88 - 90] it brings a little bit of extra fried
[90 - 91] nutty flavor to the party once we see
[91 - 93] the colors start to turn just a little
[93 - 94] bit light golden brown we're going to
[94 - 95] pull them off the heat
[95 - 97] and drain them on a paper towel i'm
[97 - 98] going to pop these into the freezer to
[98 - 100] cool down because making pesto with hot
[101 - 103] nuts makes brown pesto a traditional pesto
[103 - 105] makes brown pesto a traditional pesto usually calls for pine nuts and i love
[105 - 106] pine nuts but
[106 - 107] they're really expensive so i only
[107 - 109] splurge on those some of the time for me
[109 - 111] the more affordable option is a walnut
[111 - 113] it's soft and aromatic like a pine nut
[113 - 115] but it's like half the price
[115 - 117] since walnuts are so soft they break
[117 - 118] down into the pesto just like a pine nut
[119 - 120] would something like an almond can get a
[120 - 122] something like an almond can get a little bit gritty and be a little bit
[123 - 125] for a great smooth pesto okay so while
[125 - 126] my nuts are cooling down we're gonna hop
[126 - 127] out into the garden and grab the basil
[127 - 129] we need for this pesto you'll notice i'm
[129 - 130] grabbing the leaves from the bottom of
[130 - 132] the plant and that's just because my
[132 - 133] basil's gotten a little bit out of
[133 - 135] control and it's starting to go to seed
[135 - 136] the leaves on the tops of plants like
[136 - 138] this are kind of bitter they don't have
[138 - 140] a ton of flavor and they have almost no
[140 - 141] perceivable sweetness when it comes to
[141 - 143] delicious height of the season summer
[143 - 145] basil you really want the sweetest stuff
[145 - 147] so if you have a young plant with tender
[147 - 148] green leaves use everything but if you
[148 - 150] have a plant like mine
[150 - 151] we're looking for the more round flat
[151 - 153] leaves it's just an important detail we
[154 - 155] want sweet basil so if your plants aren't
[155 - 157] sweet basil so if your plants aren't producing delicious basil
[157 - 159] don't force it i highly recommend just
[159 - 160] going to the store and buying some nice
[161 - 162] stuff i don't want you guys to waste your time
[162 - 164] i don't want you guys to waste your time or your expensive cheese and nuts making
[164 - 165] pesto out of basil
[165 - 167] that just doesn't have any flavor while
[167 - 168] i'm in the garden i'm also going to grab
[168 - 169] some fresh parsley
[169 - 171] and a bunch of these sun gold cherry
[171 - 172] tomatoes if you're not familiar with the
[172 - 173] sun gold tomato
[173 - 176] they're amazing they have a super long
[176 - 177] growing season
[177 - 178] they're the earliest to ripen and
[178 - 180] they're pretty foolproof i mean that if
[180 - 182] you haven't grown anything in your whole
[182 - 183] life there's a really good chance that
[183 - 185] you'll be successful with sun golds it's
[185 - 186] a hybrid tomato
[186 - 188] some genius made it up a few years ago
[188 - 190] god bless him because it is very
[190 - 191] delicious and
[191 - 192] very easy to grow we need about eight to
[192 - 194] ten tomatoes per person once we've got
[194 - 195] these tomatoes picked we're gonna head
[195 - 196] back inside and we're gonna keep
[196 - 198] prepping this pesto
[198 - 200] the cheese i'm using today is a aged dry
[200 - 201] pecorino i'm grating this cheese on the
[202 - 203] finest side of my box grater
[203 - 205] it's going to dissolve into the pesto
[205 - 207] much easier this way all day we need 100
[207 - 210] grams or about 1 cup of ground cheese
[210 - 211] if you haven't had a lot of pecorino
[211 - 213] it's a sheep's milk cheese that has a
[213 - 213] pretty unique
[213 - 215] piquant flavor that if you aren't into
[215 - 217] really strong flavored cheeses a more
[217 - 218] mild option would be a high quality
[218 - 220] parmesan high quality cheese definitely
[220 - 221] goes a long way in making a really
[222 - 223] special pesto once we've got that grated we're
[223 - 225] pesto once we've got that grated we're gonna scoop it up and set it aside at
[225 - 227] this point we've gathered what we need
[227 - 228] and our nuts have chilled down enough in
[228 - 229] the fridge so
[229 - 230] i'm gonna grab my food processor and
[230 - 232] we're gonna spin up this pesto so into
[232 - 233] this food processor i'm gonna measure
[233 - 236] 100 grams of our fried walnuts 225 grams
[236 - 238] of extra virgin olive oil 30 grams or
[238 - 240] about an eighth of a red onion this one
[240 - 241] is rinsed under cold water to remove the
[241 - 242] sulfury stuff
[242 - 244] just like we always do five grams of
[244 - 246] salt 15 grams of parsley without the
[246 - 249] stems 100 grams of sweet fresh basil and
[249 - 251] 100 grams of grated pecorino cheese i'm
[251 - 252] gonna pop the top on we're gonna spin
[252 - 253] this thing on
[253 - 255] high to break everything down i'm going
[255 - 256] to give it a full 30 seconds of spinning
[256 - 258] want this whole thing to break down to
[258 - 259] the point where things are just starting
[259 - 260] to get homogenous
[260 - 261] this is where it actually becomes saucy
[262 - 263] if the pesto's too chunky it's not going
[263 - 265] to grip the pasta later on so we're
[265 - 266] going to give it a good spin and at that
[266 - 268] point we're going to stream in
[268 - 270] 30 grams of lemon juice i like to add
[270 - 271] the acid after the herbs have been
[271 - 273] broken down and emulsified into the oil
[273 - 274] just because i think it helps preserve
[275 - 276] i can't say there's any science to that
[276 - 278] but i've had some brown pestos in my
[278 - 280] past when i add lemon juice right up
[280 - 281] front once the lemon juice is streamed
[281 - 283] in now it's time to taste this is a good
[283 - 285] time to adjust the acidity or the salt
[285 - 286] if you're happy with the seasoning we're
[286 - 287] gonna set it in the fridge to chill out
[287 - 289] while we finish the rest of this dish we
[289 - 290] just made four generous servings of
[290 - 292] pesto and that's gonna keep in the
[292 - 293] fridge for a day or two but it loses its
[293 - 295] magic and freshness pretty quick so try
[295 - 297] and use it up relatively quickly if
[297 - 299] you're not making four pastas today like
[299 - 300] i mentioned before we're gonna be using
[300 - 301] this pesto to dress up some pasta
[301 - 302] of course that's gonna start with
[302 - 304] bringing about three to four quarts of
[304 - 306] water to a boil i've been messing around
[306 - 307] lately with what i would call
[307 - 309] nicer italian dried pastas this one is a
[309 - 311] spaghetti ala katara it's a really cool
[311 - 313] shape that's cut with a wire instead of
[313 - 315] a bronze dye and instead of being a
[315 - 317] round pasta shape it's actually a
[317 - 318] square i find that spaghetti alcatara
[318 - 321] holds slippery sauces like pesto really
[321 - 322] well because it has a rough edge and
[322 - 323] some grooves on the side
[324 - 326] this pasta has a really nice chew and
[326 - 328] some great rich semolina flavor today
[328 - 329] i'm cooking just one portion of this
[330 - 331] pasta or four ounces total
[332 - 333] lauren is gluten free and she gets her
[333 - 335] own special blend of gluten-free pasta
[335 - 337] in separate non-glutened water but once
[337 - 339] my water's at a boil i'm going to season
[339 - 340] it generously with salt and then we're
[340 - 342] going to drop in the pasta and cook per
[342 - 344] the package instructions which in this
[344 - 346] case is about 9 to 10 minutes we're of
[346 - 347] course going to stir the pasta to break
[347 - 348] it up a little bit so it doesn't stick
[348 - 349] together while it's simmering
[349 - 351] and i do want to mention that this dish
[351 - 352] is going to be served pretty much room
[352 - 353] temperature so we're going to be cooking
[354 - 355] the pasta a little bit further than al
[355 - 357] dente pasta tends to firm up a little
[357 - 358] bit when it cools down so we're going to
[358 - 360] take that into account and just add a
[360 - 360] little bit more time
[360 - 362] after that 9 to 10 minute mark we're
[362 - 363] going to taste the pasta just to make
[363 - 365] sure that we like the texture again
[365 - 366] we're going past al dente
[366 - 368] we don't want snappy crunchy noodles in
[368 - 370] this situation once we're happy with
[370 - 371] where it's at we're gonna strain it off
[371 - 373] and flip that pasta into a medium-sized
[373 - 375] bowl with about two to three tablespoons
[375 - 377] of the cooking liquid i'm gonna let this
[377 - 378] sit here for about three to four minutes
[378 - 379] to cool off until
[379 - 381] it's no longer hot once the pasta's
[381 - 383] cooled off to the point where it's just
[383 - 385] warm we're gonna finish off this dish so
[385 - 386] grab the pasta bowl
[386 - 388] and the pesto from the fridge and fold
[388 - 390] in about four tablespoons of that pesto
[390 - 391] since this dish is all about the pesto
[391 - 392] we're gonna be really generous
[392 - 394] once the pesto's in there we're going to
[394 - 395] give the whole thing a toss toss toss to
[396 - 398] mixed and whipped up the starch from the
[398 - 399] pasta is going to combine with the water
[399 - 401] and the pesto to create a really creamy
[401 - 403] sauce that's going to cling to the
[403 - 404] noodle in a really pleasant way if
[404 - 405] things are looking a little bit dry in
[406 - 407] just a splash of tap water can bring
[407 - 409] everything back once you've got a toss
[409 - 410] toss toss for a good 30 seconds we're
[410 - 411] gonna taste a noodle
[411 - 413] if you want a little bit more acid or
[413 - 414] salt or cheese anything like that
[414 - 416] now would be a good time to change that
[416 - 418] if it's balanced and bright and just
[418 - 419] screams the height of summer
[420 - 423] it's time to plate
[423 - 462] [Music] so so [Music]
[473 - 473] so that's a really easy light summer
[473 - 475] pasta that's definitely going to get you
[475 - 476] guys through the dog
[476 - 478] days of summer ahead to me it's just a
[478 - 480] really great way to celebrate the summer
[480 - 482] garden this dish makes sense as a side
[482 - 483] or as an entree you can put a little bit
[483 - 485] of chopped grilled chicken on there
[485 - 486] maybe a little bit of shrimp
[486 - 488] shrimp and pesto tastes good anyways if
[488 - 490] you guys like this video please consider
[490 - 492] giving it a like down below
[492 - 493] that goes a long way in helping us be
[493 - 496] seen by more people on youtube as always
[496 - 497] thank you guys so much
[497 - 499] for sticking around thank you for your
[499 - 501] time and attention
[501 - 505] and we'll see you next time