Linguine with Pesto

When I was younger, I was terrified of Pesto. It was green! It was the color of the boogers in the Gooey Louie game (I may have been the only child in the world with this game, but if you ever played it, you can remember how...interesting it was). SO, I never ate it. What a mistake. One day in college, I had some baked salmon with pesto sauce and I was converted. Don't make the same mistake I made - you're missing out on one of life's better joys. But if you're allergic to nuts, well...tough. Mangia Bene!

Ingredients:

For the Pesto:

2 cups Fresh Basil Leaves
3 Tbsp of Pine Nuts, toasted
2 Small Cloves of Garlic
1 tsp Grated Lemon Zest
1 Tbsp of Lemon Juice
½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil 
¼ cup of Fresh Grated Parmiggiano Reggiano
Salt and Pepper, to taste

For the remaining ingredients:
1 lb of Linguine 
Salt and Pepper
Freshly Grated Parmiggiano Reggiano

Process:

1) Fill a large pot with water and sprinkle in some salt, bring to a boil and add the linguine, cook according to package directions. Reserve ½ cup of the starchy pasta cooking water. 

2) In a food processor add the basil, pine nuts, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic and salt and pepper. Start pulsing everything together and slowly add the olive oil. Once you have everything combined add it to a bowl and stir in the parmiggiano reggiano.

3) Add the cooked drained pasta to the same large pot and add in the pesto and the reserved cooking water. Toss everything together until it’s all combined. 

4) Plate in on a large platter and sprinkle over some extra cheese and some freshly grated black pepper.