Light Pesto

I promised Kadie (Seven Alive) that I would post a pesto recipe, so this is the first try.  I say it's the first try because this was not a conventional pesto recipe, and I definitely want to do one of those for her.

This recipe came from the Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites cookbook.

Susan's Pesto (no, I don't know Susan)

1 cup well-packed fresh basil leaves
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 garlic clove, pressed or minced ( I used 4)
1 Tablespoon toasted pine nuts
1/2 teaspoon salt

Throw all of that into a food processor, give it a whirl, and that's it.  When you drain the pasta, reserve a cup or so of the cooking water in case the pasta ends up being too dry for your liking.

We had this over fusilli.  I added dried chili peppers and Parmesan cheese.

It was definitely fresh and bright and lovely-tasting, but it wasn't what you would normally expect with a pesto. It ended up being much lighter.  It definitely has it's low-calorie, low-fat place, but I'm still hankering for a full-fat classic version.

Kadie, I promise the next one will be traditional.  :)