Rotini Pasta with Cilantro Pesto

You may wonder did I read the title correctly...what is a cilantro pesto..I have not heard about it?? Yes the title is correct there is no typo....I made cilantro pesto...We had this during our trip to the UK. I loved it. Since then I have been contemplating on making it but did not know what needs to be added to the cilantro to make the pesto. It is almost 2 years since I visited UK but whenever I make pasta the cilantro pesto  always lingers at the back of my mind. These days I am trying to make my own sauce as much as possible since the store bought ones have garlic in it.

I have been searching for pine nuts for using it in the cilantro or basil pesto....but never found it in the stores. It looks like people have not even heard of it when I enquired in stores!! I found that funny!! One of the shop assistants told me "we will never carry such a thing as pine nuts in our store"...I guess the word pine made them feel it was not a food item!! No clue...

I decided to make the cilantro pesto without the pine nuts. You know what I choose instead the nutty, crunchy tastier "Almonds".

Last weekend I ventured to make the Rotini pasta with cilantro pesto. Though I ventured to make it....was skeptical till I finished and tasted it...kind of scared to as to how it will turn out!! Actually I asked my husband to have a taste of it and got the assurance that it did taste good before digging into it.

Ingredients for making it:

For the Pesto -

Cilantro - Handful
Almonds - 12
Olive Oil - 2 TBSPN
Parmesan Cheese
Pepper Powder
Salt to taste

For the Pasta -

Pasta of any kind 2 cups (I used Rotini)

Olive Oil

Pepper Powder

Salt to taste

Any veggies of your choice - Our family is a lover of veggies hence I added all the vegetables A to Z!! in alphebetical order ;) ...there it goes - A for  Asparagus, B for Brocolli, Cherry Tomatoes....Sweet Peppers and Z for Zucchini. Kind of sounds the way my son says A for Apple , B for Banana........

Blend the ingredients together - cilantro, almonds, parmesan cheese, olive oil, salt and pepper - keep it aside.

Cook the pasta the way you normally do by putting it in a boiling water with little bit of salt for 10 minutes - al dente.

I microwave the vegetables for 5 minutes. Take olive oil in a pan and saute the microwaved vegetables for few minutes (since they are already cooked you do not have to do it for a long time). Take it out of the pan and keep it aside.

Take a tsp of oil and add the cooked pasta in it and toss it for sometime. Now add the pesto and cook it for 5 to 10 minutes. Add the vegetables at the end.

The Pasta is ready to be served - retaining the Italianish taste with an Indian tinge to it.