Linguini in nutty sauce with mushrooms

A very big name for a simple recipe . Couldn’t think of any other name though this recipe was derived from pesto sauce. Pesto sauce  is made by blending in basil leaves, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, garlic and olive oil. I wanted to make this sauce but i had only garlic and olive oil. So after a quick search in my pantry, picked out corriander leaves, walnuts, pistachios and cheese ( mozzarella  and cheddar , which i always keep in stock for my daughter ).  Then decided why not make a sauce similar to pesto with these ingredients.

After picking up sauce, next thing for a pasta recipe is to choose the right shape of pasta. Pasta comes in different shapes – maccheroni (tubes or cylinders), fusilli (swirls), fettuccine ( flat thick ribbons ), linguini ( less wider than fettucine ) and lasagne (sheets). For pesto kind of sauce, linguini is the best option. Lastly for the topping , decided to go with mushrooms pan fried with salt and pepper. This recipe was a instant hit at home and my family loved it. Here is the recipe for u -

Ingredients :

1. Linguini – 120 gm
2. Sliced white button mushrooms – 1/2 cup
3. Olive oil – 5 tbsp
4. Cheese – 4 tbsp
5. Walnuts and pistachios – 10 each
6. Garlic  cloves – 2
7. Corriander leaves – handfull or 1/2 bunch
8. Pepper – 1/2 tsp
9. Salt – for taste

Method :

1. Heat 1/2 tbsp of olive oil in a pan and fry mushrooms with little salt and pepper. Cook on both sides till water dries out and keep it aside
2. In the same pan, fry nuts for 2 minutes at medium heat. Turn off the heat and allow it to cool
3. Now grind garlic, corriander leaves, nuts and cheese with salt. Add rest of olive oil and blend into thick sauce
4. In a pot of boiling salted water, cook linguini until tender but still firm enough to retain its shape. Drain the water and blanch in cold water immediately to stop it from further cooking
5. Drain water completely from pasta and toss it gently with 1/2 tbsp of oil to prevent it from sticking together
6. In a seperate pan , add cooked pasta and gently toss it with sauce till its fully coated. Top it with fried mushrooms before serving

Note :

1. U can refer packet cover to check out exact cooking instructions for pasta
2. I used 2 tbsp each from mozzarella and cheddar cheese . U can use any cheese available at home
3. U can refrigerate this sauce and use it later

Sending this recipe to ‘ Say Cheese ‘ event and ‘ Gimme GREEN! ‘ event