Basil Pesto Capellini

Ingredients: Capellini pasta, fresh organic basil, pine nuts, garlic, Parmesan cheese, extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt

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My parents' garden has been overrun by beautiful basil this summer and they generously gave me huge bunches recently. Worried it would spoil too soon in this insanely humid heat we are having in Los Angeles, I quickly threw together a pesto. I've done a pesto in two different ways before, but for a quick and simple lunch, my food processor did the trick.

The key to a great pesto is really fresh, high quality ingredients. Since you're not cooking any of it (barely), the flavor of the raw basil really needs to shine. The other key to a great pesto is freshly toasted pine nuts which I gently toast in a sauce pan on the stove (a friend in Berkeley swore by roasting the pine nuts first in the oven on a baking sheet before putting it into his food processor).

This pesto is great with any pasta, really. But I was in the mood for a light Capellini, almost like Angel Hair, but a bit thicker. As with Angel Hair, it's necessary to half-cook the Capellini in boiling water and finish it in the saucepan with a bit of the pasta water and a dollop of the pesto.