The text is a detailed, step-by-step guide to making a homemade pesto sauce and a dish of penne pasta with spinach, basil, and pesto. The preparation starts with roasting garlic and chopping fresh spinach and basil. The roasted garlic is then combined with the chopped greens and olive oil, and processed until smooth.
Next, pine nuts, garlic, and salt are pounded together to create a paste. This is then gradually mixed with olive oil until it becomes a sauce. Basil, pine nuts, and a touch of pecorino cheese are added to the sauce, which is then seasoned with salt, pepper, and additional olive oil. The pesto is then used to coat penne pasta, which is served with gnocchi, chicken, and sun-dried tomato pesto. The process involves careful control of the ingredients and cooking techniques to ensure a rich, flavorful, and visually appealing dish.
1. The text is a step-by-step guide to making penne pasta with spinach and basil pesto, sun-dried tomato pesto with gnocchi and chicken, and pesto with fresh pasta.
2. The chefs are Billy, a level one chef, and Joe, a level two chef.
3. Fatma, another professional chef, has been in the field for over 10 years.
4. The chefs chop up baby spinach and chop it up so that the food processor has an easier time getting through them.
5. They roast garlic first to get rid of some of the bitterness and make the pesto creamier.
6. They make pesto with a one-to-one ratio of spinach and basil, and add lemon to add brightness to the pesto.
7. They use a food processor to chop up the greens and start pulsing them so that they get chopped even finer.
8. They toast pine nuts for their pesto, and use a generous amount of salt, a clove of garlic, and a pinch of salt.
9. They pound out these three ingredients together, with the salt acting as an abrasive and the oils in the garlic and pine nuts starting to come out.
10. They add basil, pine nuts, and parmesan cheese to their pesto, and add the olive oil at the end.
11. They make their pesto by using a mortar and pestle, which allows them to see the progression of how their sauce comes together.
12. They use commercial dried penne, commercially made potato gnocchi, and make their own fresh pasta with double zero flour.
13. They reserve some of the starchy cooking water to add to loosen their pasta and pesto as needed.
14. They serve the pesto over their pasta, which they cook in a generous amount of pasta water.
15. The chefs use calabrin chili oils to add a floral component and a heat component to their pasta.
16. They season their chicken breast with salt and pepper, and do not need to put any other seasoning on it because the pesto will season it in their finished dish.
17. They slice the chicken open over the pasta, and the juices don't just run out.
18. They add two heaping tablespoons of pesto to their pasta, and toss it all together.
19. They serve the penne pasta with pesto sauce, and garnish it with tomatoes, sliced chicken, chili oil, pesto pulverization, and grated Parmesan.
20. They all agree that pesto is an aromatic sauce, dip, and is always delicious.