Creamy Arugula Walnut Pesto & Black Pepper Tagliatelle

Blame Michelle over at Thursday Night Smackdown for this recipe. I was perusing through the many food blogs I have bookmarked at work (during lunch…yes, that’s it, during lunch) and stumbled upon her most recent edition of Cheap Ass Mondays…which included fresh pasta made by hand (yes ladies and gentleman, she didn’t even use a pasta roller or maker). The thought of making fresh pasta was stuck in my head the rest of the day, so as soon as I got home, I pulled out the Babbo Cookbook and immediately fell upon the recipe for black pepper pasta dough. Hello luvah!

I am a gadget whore…this should not be news to anyone who reads my blog regularly. But I must admit, after making pasta without the use of a pasta maker or roller, even I am considering retiring my pasta making gadgets. It was so much easier to just roll the dough out with my heavy rolling pin than to run it through a machine repeatedly. And adding fresh ground pepper to the pasta dough? Sheer genius! You can find the pasta dough recipe here, so I now turn my attention to the fabulous pesto!

3 handfuls fresh arugula

1 handful chopped walnuts

3/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

1/2 cup olive oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup heavy cream, warmed but not scalded

Black pepper pasta, already cut and ready to cook

Place a large pot of water to boil on high on the stove for the pasta. Salt the boiling water and add the tagliatelle, cooking for about four minutes. While the pasta cooks, start on the pesto. In a food processor, place the arugula, parmesan, garlic and walnuts and pulse until combined. With the processor still running, slowly pour in the olive oil. In a saucepan, warm the heavy cream on medium heat until almost at a boil. Remove from heat and let stand for about a minute. Turn the processor back on and slowly add the heavy cream until you get a green, creamy emulsion. Scrape the pesto onto the cooked pasta and toss until evenly coated.

Since I had so much fun participating in last week’s Presto Pasta Nights, I decided to submit this entry for the next round-up! Head over to Chew on That this Friday for a slew of pasta recipes from all over the food blogosphere!