Homemade Pesto Pasta with Walnuts and Basil – Gluten-free version

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Cooked pasta

1. 1
   Cook the gluten-free pasta in plenty of boiling salted water (4¼ cups of water and a heaping teaspoon of salt for every 4 oz of gluten-free pasta), following the package directions (taste about 2 minutes early), until al dente.

   ⚙ Cooking in salted waterStovePot

   💡The water should taste like a seasoned soup, not like sea water: a heaping teaspoon of salt per liter. Add the salt once the water is boiling.
2. 2
   Reserve cup of the cooking water before draining.

   ⚙ Saving the cooking waterLadleorMeasuring cup

   💡The cooking water is starchy: a spoonful or two binds the sauce to the gluten-free pasta or the gnocchi and makes it glossy.
3. 3
   Drain.

   Colander

For the Pesto

1. 4
   Grind the leaves in a food processor with the nuts, garlic, salt and black pepper.

   ⚙ Grinding in a Food ProcessorFood processor

   💡In a food processor, grind in short pulses and check between pulses: it's easy to go from coarse to paste. (Sesame for tahini, on the other hand, is ground continuously.)
2. 5
   Add the Parmesan and grind.

   Food processor
3. 6
   Add the olive oil in a thin stream, while Tahini, until to a smooth sauce.

   ⚙ Fat in a Thin StreamFood processor

   💡Pesto keeps in the fridge about two weeks in a closed jar, covered with a layer of olive oil. The top layer darkens from the air, and that doesn't mean it has spoiled.

   💡The thin stream is everything: fat that goes in too fast can't bind, and the sauce breaks. For mayonnaise and hollandaise, if this happens, start with a fresh yolk and slowly add the broken sauce to it; if the sauce is too thick, thin it with a teaspoon of water.
4. 7
   Toss the hot gluten-free pasta with the pesto and a little of the cooking water, until the sauce coats it.

   💡Don't heat pesto on the stove: heat turns the basil black. The heat of the gluten-free pasta and the cooking water is enough.
5. 8
   Serve immediately with extra Parmesan.