Spaghetti with home-made dried tomato pesto

Serves: 4 

Ingredients

For Oven-Dried Tomatoes:

•    500g small tomatoes

•    2 tbsp olive oil

•    1 tbsp dried basil

•    1 tbsp dried oregano

•    1 tbsp dried parsley

•    2 tsp garlic powder

•    Large pinch of salt & pepper

For Dried Tomato Pesto:

•    1 small red onion

•    4 cloves garlic

•    3 tbsp olive oil

•    1 tbsp tomato concentrate (Kunserva)

•    ½ cup fresh basil

•    ¼ cup fresh mint

•    1 tbsp white wine vinegar

•    100g walnuts

•    150g Parmesan cheese

•    Salt & pepper to taste

For Spaghetti:

•    400g of your choice of spaghetti

•    Medium pot of salted boiling water

Method

Dried Tomato Pesto:

1.  After your tomatoes have been dried and cooled you can start working on the pesto.

2.  Roughly chop the onion and garlic and sautee on low heat in 1 tbsp of olive oil until they are trunslucent.

3.  Add the dried tomatoes to the mixture, leave a few on the side for garnish.

4.  Cook for another five minutes mixing well.

5.  Add all the other ingredients exluding your remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil, the parmesan cheese and walnuts.

6.  Cook all the ingrediets on low heat for another 3 minutes.

7.  Let the mix cool for a few minutes, add the walnuts and remaining oil and place in a food processor. Blitz a few times until a homogenous mixture is formed. 

8.  Transfer into a bowl and slowly add the parmesan cheese into the now cooled mixture.

9.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Spaghetti with Dried Tomato Pesto:

1.  Boil 400g of your choice of spaghetti in salted water until ‘al dente’.

2.  Drain, reserving a couple of tbsp of pasta water.

3.  Re-place the spaghetti in the pot, along with the reserved pasta water.

4.  Add the pesto and mix well.

5.  Place your saved dried tomato on top of the spaghetti, along with a leaf of fresh basil as garnish.

6.  Serve with a sprinkle of olive oil and parmesan cheese on top. 

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