Hey Pesto!

I am the proud new owner of a coriander pot plant. Her name is Catherine. Setting me back only £1, she seemed to make far more financial sense in the long run when compared to the regular packaged stuff. Whether she survives to fulfil her potential is uncertain however, considering I just savaged a significant percentage of her foliage to make pesto.

Death by a thousand cuts, and yet she still smiles at me.

Actually I was going to make a regular basil pesto, but as fate would have it, Sainsbury had none of the pot plant variety in stock. I had actually only ever heard of basil pesto until recently, when I had a ton of leftover coriander after making rice paper rolls and no idea what to do with it. Coriander pesto is more gentle in flavour, which might be surprising considering it usually has a strong distinctive smell which some people can't stand.

The following recipe is somewhat plagarised/butchered from something Dr C cooked this one time a while back...

Fusilli with Zucchini and Coriander Pesto

Coriander Pesto:	Everything Else:
large bunch of coriander extra virgin olive oil several cloves garlic 1 small chilli handful of pine nuts parmesan cheese, grated	400 g fusilli pasta  2 large zucchinis, sliced into batons 100 g pancetta or bacon, cubed 20 cherry tomatoes, halved

Serves 3-4

For the pesto... firstly, look mum, no blender! College accommodation rules don't allow them, but a knife is perfectly sufficient.

1. Finely chop the coriander, followed by garlic and chilli.
2. Combine in a bowl and add oil until paste-like consistency is reached.
3. Add pine nuts then grated cheese until you're happy with the taste. A little salt might help too, or perhaps a squeeze of lemon juice. The pesto will probably get a bit dry after adding cheese, so top up with oil as you see fit.

I was deliberately vague with the amounts because A) I don't actually remember how much I used; and B) it's up to personal taste. By the way, here's a video of Jamie Oliver telling you how to use a knife. If you never really learnt basic skills in the kitchen (like me), this video is really informative. I first saw it at this food blog!



For the pasta...
1. Boil fusilli until almost cooked. Meanwhile...
2. Fry pancetta without oil (it's fatty enough) for a minute or two.
3. Add sliced zucchini and fry until they start to soften.
4. Add tomato and pesto and fry for another minute. Hopefully the pasta is done and drained by now!
5. Add pasta to the sauce and stir until mixed evenly and everything is heated through. Add salt/pepper/cheese to taste.

Translations:
* Strange people from some country called "America" call coriander "cilantro". Crazy folks.
* Even stranger people from this "United Kingdom" place call zucchini "courgettes". Don't be influenced by their madness.