Thirty years ago, a pesto meant one thing: a rough paste of basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan and olive oil, made as a sauce for pasta. Then we started seeing variations on the basil, made with other herbs — mint pestos, parsley pestos, even cilantro pestos.
Then pestos made with main ingredients other than herbs: tomato (actually a traditional Sicilian pasta sauce), and an American variation made with sun-dried tomatoes; spinach (popular in places where basil is too expensive or unavailable), kale or arugula; even pestos made with shrimp or smoked fish.
A pesto is traditionally made with a mortar and pestle. Generally, I love traditional kitchen tools, but making a pesto in a mortar and pestle is a workout. There’s nothing wrong with making it in a food processor. The one danger with a food processor is that you’ll overprocess the pesto and end up with a thin, smooth puree, rather than a wonderfully uneven, chunky sauce.
This spring vegetable pesto is a result of years of experimentation with a fresh, coarse green vegetable sauce. I initially made this sauce with fava beans — delicious but a lot of work shucking those little beans — then decided to make it with frozen peas, which are always sweet and tender. I added a little asparagus for some bitterness and complexity, then finally anchovies for depth of flavor, salt and funkiness.
This is a great pasta sauce, but it’s just as good spread on toast or as a garnish for swordfish or bass.
Fusilli With Spring Vegetable and Anchovy Pesto
Serves 4.
Ingredients
1 cup finely chopped asparagus
1 cup frozen peas
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds
6 anchovy filets
8 mint leaves
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Pinch of chile flakes
Salt and pepper
1 pound dried fusilli
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
Directions
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the asparagus, cook 1 minute, then add the frozen peas and cook about 3 more minutes. Drain the vegetables and refresh under cold running water.
Drain well and transfer to a food processor. Add the garlic, almonds, anchovy, mint, 1/4 cup of the extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, chile flakes, and salt and pepper. Process to a coarse puree. (The pesto can be made up to 1 day in advance.)
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the directions on the box.
Place about 1 cup of the pesto in a bowl and toss with the hot pasta, the Parmesan and the rest of the olive oil. Taste for seasoning and serve immediately.
(Note: You will have about a cup of the pesto left over. Freeze it or use it the next day as a topping for crostini with mozzarella or goat cheese, or as a sauce for grilled fish.)
