I don’t know about you but in my house pasta has to be on the table at least a few times a week. With kids born in Italy I guess it is a must. Or I just use them as an excuse because I myself love it, you will never know.

One thing about pasta is that it is very versatile and I can experiment. Most of the dishes involving pasta (short or not) are influenced by the years I spent in that beautiful country but as you will see, that’s not always the case.

This time green tea found itself in the middle of the cooking experiment. You know…when kids ask “What is for dinner”, you give an answer and your other half goes “Should I order pizza?”

Good for him he was joking, at least I think he was

Anyway, no need for pizza today, Matcha pesto turned out a keeper that was actually added to my notebook of “go to” dishes

Matcha Pesto

What you need:

• 1 1/2 teaspoon matcha
• 1 cup mint leaves
• 1/2 cup basil leaves
• 1/2 cup parsley leaves
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped
• 3/4 cup toasted pine nuts keep a few back to sprinkle on the ready dish
• 2 spring onions finely chopped
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 30 g grated Parmesan or vegan cheese if you want to make this dish vegan
• 100-150 g pasta per person

How you make it:

• Put in a blender all the leaves, matcha, garlic, toasted peanuts and onions and pulse until it is all combined
• while the blender is going add gradually the olive oil and continue pulsing until everything is like a paste
• add the cheese and continue pulsing a couple more times
• when the pasta is boiled (you can use whatever you like more) put around 2 spoons of the pesto in a frying pan to hear it and add the pasta.
• mix and enjoy
• you can add as garnish few toasted pine nuts (if you remember to keep some back, last time i made this I forgot), some chopped parsley or a few roasted cherry tomatoes for a pop of color