Easy and Impressive: Pesto Pasta with Pine nuts and Pmushrooms

This one's a snap. Fellas pay attention, it's a great way to impress a lady, fast.


Bonus points, it's even vegetarian compatible! Whoever said vegetarian food sucks hasn't seen me cook (ask me about my salad)


Extra bonus points, it's easy, and cheap. It's only got four ingredients (six if you include salt and pepper, seven if you include oil for frying). They are:

• Pasta. Any kind will do, but I recommend penne. Obviously, you'll need as much pasta as you need for the number of people you're cooking for.
• Mushrooms. About two per person.
• Pine nuts. A decent handful per person.
• Pesto. Usually about two teaspoons per person, depending on taste.

Righto, let's go!

Get your water boiling for your pasta and get your grill up to temperature. Once the water's boiling, chuck the pasta in. It'll normally take about ten minutes to cook, which i plenty of time for the rest.

Grill the pine nuts while the water is boiling. This is probably the trickiest step as you need to watch these nuts like a hawk; they go from raw to lumps of char in about ten seconds. I've found that usually by the time they smell cooked, they're already too far gone. You can tell when they're cooked just right, they'll be a lovely golden brown colour. Obviously, when they're cooked, take them off the heat. It doesn't matter if they go cold.

Chop and fry the mushrooms. Easy.

When the pasta's done cooking, strain it and then mix the pine nuts, mushrooms and pesto in the pan, and then serve.

Mm, delicious and easy.

I've always found some salt really brings out the flavour in this dish.

Enjoyed in conjunction with: I would normally recommend a white wine for this one, but it's a weekday and I'm not on holidays *shakes fist*.