Don’t confuse this with store-bought pasta you get at a deli! You’re going to make the pesto cream cheese yourself, and I promise you, every bite will be worth the effort! This salad has all the right combinations of zesty, tangy, crunchy, salty and spicy, and will definitely be a top hit at any braai.
You’ll need:
- 500 g bag of macaroni or penne
- 2 giant handfuls of rocket
- a giant handful of basil
- a big handful of Parmesan, grated
- juice and zest of 1 lemon
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- ½ tub of cream cheese
- a generous glug of olive oil
- salt and cracked black pepper, to taste
- a handful of pistachio nuts, peeled and toasted
- about 3 big pinches of dried chilli flakes
- a packet of free-range streaky bacon, chopped
- about 2 cups of cherry tomatoes
Method:
Bring a large pot of water to boil, add some salt and olive oil, and cook the pasta until al dente (no longer than ten minutes). While the pasta is cooking, put one handful of rocket, the basil, Parmesan, lemon juice, lemon zest and garlic in a blender and blitz until smooth. Add the cream cheese and olive oil, and mix again until you have a thick herby cream cheese. Season with salt and cracked black pepper, and set aside. By now the pasta should be cooked, so take it off the heat, drain it (reserving a little bit of the water) and set aside to cool down. Heat a non-stick pan and toast the pistachios then set aside. In the same pan, fry the chilli flakes and chopped bacon until crisp, toss in the cherry tomatoes and set aside. Stir a splash of the reserved water through the herby cream cheese. Add the cream cheese to the pasta, along with a little extra lemon juice and a decent glug of olive oil, and stir to loosen the pasta shells from each other. Lastly, toss through the bacon, cherry tomatoes, pistachio nuts and the last handful of rocket before serving.
Recipe from The Ultimate Braai Master: Roads Less Travelled by Justin Bonello with Bertus Basson and Marthinus Ferreira, written by Helena Lombard.
Photo by Louis Hiemstra and Dominique Little.
