This is one of the fastest meals or side dishes that everyone loves. Kids love it, adults love it, I'm mean come on, of course they do, it's pasta! The shallots and generous amounts of garlic make for a lovely flavor which is only heightened by a red pesto whose strong flavors come from being dried under the sun.
Spaghetti with Red Pesto
serves 2
170 g shallots julienned (or thinly sliced)
35 g thinly sliced garlic
2 T butter
2 T olive oil
60 ml dry white wine
3 heaping T of red pesto (jarred)
1 t dried parsley
pinch of chili flakes (optional)
parmesan cheese for garnish
200 g spaghetti
Boil a large pot of water for the pasta.
In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan with a good sealing lid, melt your butter with the oil on medium heat. Once it's all warmed up, add your shallots, salt & pepper. Then, mix well once and cover with a lid. It must be simmering before you can turn the heat down to low. Then cook it with the lid on for 5 minutes, stirring a couple of times and always allowing the moisture from the lid to drop back into the pan. After 5 minutes, add the garlic & chili flakes. Mix and cover for another 5 minutes, stirring again once or twice. Remember to always let the condensation on the lid fall back inside the pan, thus making for a much better tasting sauce. After the second 5 minutes, add the red pesto, stir it well and cover for another 3-5 minutes on low. You do NOT want this to dry out or your sauce is gone.
Immediately salt your boiling pasta water and drop the spaghetti in making sure it doesn't stick together. You now have less than 10 minutes for the sauce to finish, so the pasta cooking time is on point! YES!
Now is the time to add the white wine (hopefully the one you have been drinking while making this meal.....WINK), cover and cook for 3 minutes. When you open the lid, you may get a burst of alcohol in your face as the it leaves the pan. Leave the lid off for a minute, while stirring & adding the dried parsley. Check for seasonings and keep warm until ready to serve.
Once your pasta is al dente, while using tongs or the pasta scoop, grab the pasta and place it in the pan with the sauce, letting the pasta water drip into the pan. This is a VERY important step in making a proper pasta, do not skip it!
Stir it well. If it needs more water scoop some in, a little at a time. Pasta continues to cook as it sits in your bowl, so it will eventually soak up the only liquid near it -the sauce, making your pasta more sticky and less saucy.
If you want to leave out the chili flakes, of course you can. When making this for only my husband and I, I leave them in. When the kids are eating with us, we set the chili flakes on the table to use as desired.