Red Pesto Penne

I first came across the red pesto on a lazy afternoon at Cafe Max, Indiranagar. It had a wonderful bittery taste of the walnut, and the tang of the tomato. I really liked that it was not a white sauce pasta (that's just lots and lots of cheese!). So I'd been wanting to try this for a while, and wanted to surprise the overworked husband on New Year's eve. Quite a feat, since I'd been sick for 4-5 days, and was out of energy. But its 31st Dec, and what with all the loud pub music on (Psst-We live behind one), I decided to experiment anyway. Here's how I plated this dish.

What you need to serve 2? 

Pasta of your choice (2 cups maybe?)
4 Tomatoes (Sun dried ones, if you're particular)
2 spoons Balsamic vinegar
Handful of Walnuts
Basil
Garlic
Pepper
Salt
Cheese (Based on your liking)
Italian seasoning (Based on your liking)
Bell peppers, Olives, Mushrooms (Based on your liking)
Oil (Olive, if possible)

How to go about making it?

Throw in the tomatoes, walnuts, basil, garlic, pepper, vinegar, oil, salt and pepper into the mixer/blender. Once you've mixed all of these, you're pretty much done with the 'Red pesto' sauce part. You can also store this and use it the next time you're making pasta.

Cook the pasta to al dente. Add a few drops of oil to the pasta while boiling, and ensure you wash it with cold water. This will make sure your pasta does not stick together, while being cooked just about right.

The veggies are optional, and the pasta can go without it too. But I like mine with veggies. So I fried the peppers, olives and shrooms. Then I added the pasta and sauce. Cheese too, if you like it.

And this is how it turned to be. It was really yummy.