Time seems to fly by when you are least paying attention to it. I can’t believe it’s almost a month away from Christmas. Things have started picking up pace despite my best efforts to slow everything right down. Tuesday is ceramics day in Pafos. Thursday is writing day. And I cook whenever I can on the other days as well as photograph and finish off things on my to-do list. On days like today, when I intended to make an apple pie, a fennel salad, photograph it all, proofread an article about Cypriot food and finish an article about Cypriot pasta: I have accomplished editing a stop-animation film of my friends and me making gingerbread and made some super easy coriander pesto to pair with some Mitsides tortellini for lunch to keep me going. In the summertime, I wrote a few recipes which were published in a little Mitsides recipe booklet in Carrefour. This is one of those recipes which I keep coming back to. I was once upon a time a basil pesto purist. I wouldn’t venture beyond your typical basil pesto because I just didn’t think anything could beat the flavour. But I experimented with flavours when writing the recipes for the booklet and stumbled across this delicious pesto, which I dare say I actually prefer to basil pesto. It has a more interesting flavour. It still has that garlic and nutty flavour that I associate with pesto, but the coriander makes it just that little bit fresher. It’s also a great way to use up leftover coriander which in Cyprus is useful because it doesn’t seem like you can buy anything less than 1kilogram of the stuff at a time. Enjoy!
Level of Difficulty: 1/5
Preparation Time: about 20 minutes
Cooking Time: time it takes to cook pasta
Makes about 2 large servings
ingredients
1 Pack Mitsides Spinach-Ricotta Tortellini or Mitsides Tortellini with Cheese
2 & 1/2 cups fresh coriander (a large bunch)
2 garlic cloves
50g hazelnuts
half lemon
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
5 tbs olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
parmesan cheese to garnish
recipe
1. Roast the hazelnuts in the oven for 10 minutes on 180C. Allow to cool.
2. In a food processor blend the hazelnuts, coriander, garlic, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese and olive oil. Squeeze about 1 tbs of fresh lemon juice on top and add salt & pepper to taste. Pulse to combine.
3. Boil the tortellini in salted water until cooked. I used Mitsides Tortellini with Cheese this time because that is what I had. Mitsides Spinach-Ricotta Tortellini really compliments this pesto too. Drain the tortellini. Add the pesto and stir. Garnish with grated parmesan cheese.
