Recipe: Rigatoni with Green Olive Pesto

Recipe Source: Marchetti, Domenica.  "Simple Sauces from the Pantry."  Cooking Light, volume 20 number 4 p. 94.  May 2006.

I had been pretty excited to make this recipe.  Green olives make me think of lots of good things, like martinis.  Rigatoni is my favorite pasta shape.  Even better, I've found that Super 88 now carries the brand of pasta I grew up eating, which I've had to buy in Syracuse and bring back to Braintree for years.  Unfortunately, I kept forgetting to buy the olives.  I should have taken this as a sign, because I did not like this dish much at all. 

I don't think that what I disliked was the olives, because like I said I really like olives.  The asiago cheese could have had something to do with it, although maybe not.  I have no objection to asiago, although it's kind of unusual to see it in a pesto type sauce.  I do think that it could have used a little more spice, so adding some red pepper flakes would be good.  Where I think the sauce lost me was the parsley.  I tolerate parsley, but only in the most politically correct sense of the term "tolerate."  I acknowledge that parsley is an herb, just like any other herb, and that it has a place in society just like any other herb.  I cannot make myself like it.  There's something almost grassy about it that I just can't get the hang of.  I use parsley in conjunction with other herbs, but I'm not a fan of it by itself.  My husband, who does not share my distaste for parsley, liked the dish just fine. 

Rigatoni with Green Olive Pesto (serves 6; approx. $2.13/serving)

1 pound dried rigatoni

1 1/4 cup pitted green olives

1/2 cup almonds, toasted

1 bunch fresh parsley, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon black pepper

3 tablespoons minced jarred garlic

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1/2 cup grated asiago

Equipment:

• Large pot
• Strainer
• Food processor

1. Cook the rigatoni in a large pot of salted water according to the directions on the box.
2. Meanwhile, place the next 5 ingredients (olives through garlic) into the food processor.
3. Grind to a coarse paste.
4. With the food processor running, add the water and the vinegar down the chute. 
5. Drain the pasta and add it to the serving bowl.
6. Transfer the pesto from the food processor onto the pasta.  It may need some help.
7. Throw the cheese on top of the hot pasta and pesto.
8. Toss well, making sure that the cheese and sauce are well incorporated into the pasta.
9. Serve.

Comments

[Peter]

Jessica, I like the sound of this pesto...perhaps the olives you used were too briny? A little goes a long way and I think this is worth tinkering with.

[Oakley Rhodes]

You're more than welcome to post about the cauliflower mash!

[Jessica Voloudakis]

Peter,

I had considered it as a possibility, but rejected it because of my love for multi-olive martinis. It's entirely possible, though, that the brininess of the olives exacerbated whatever it is about parsley that I'm not so fond of, because I usually don't find it offensive.

Oakley,

Look for it on Friday or so! Thanks.