1/52 Linguine with arugula pesto and cherry tomatoes

 Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce: the first blog post about food! So in some sense I already reached goal number 3 for 2013 (read here): Start to blog about food. But of course I won't lean back and relax for the rest of the year,  only to write in my goals for 2014 to continue to blog about food. It's a start and it feels so good!
The boyfriend and I are doing a 52 weeks challenge and we're going to prepare (and enjoy) an Italian meal every weekend. Last weekend (first week) we had linguine with arugula pesto and cherry tomatoes and it was delicious! My kitchen is not the best equipped kitchen on earth and I had a blender on top of my kitchen wish list for like 3 years now. After realizing I needed a blender for this recipe I put some of my Christmas money into a new one. Now I own a blender and we're going to have so much fun together! Okay... before it gets awkward I'll just start with the recipe....

Linguine with arugula pesto and cherry tomatoes

(easy, 30 minutes, makes 4 servings)

Pesto
2 cloves of garlic, 1 handful basil leaves, 2 handful arugula, 1/3 cup minced almonds, 6 tablespoons olive oil, 1/6 cup Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper

Linguine
16-20 cherry tomatoes, 1 small chili, salt, pepper, 1lb linguine, 3 tablespoons olive oil

Garnish
coarsely ground pepper, some fresh basil leaves

For the pesto coarsely chop the cloves of garlic. Put the basil, arugula, almonds and olive oil into a blender and blend until it reaches a smooth texture. Grate the Parmesan cheese and mix it with the arugula pesto. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook the linguine in plenty of salted water until al dente. Remove from heat and drain the linguine.
Cut the chili in half and remove the stem and the seeds. Halve the cherry tomatoes as well or leave them whole, just as you like.
In a pan, heat the olive oil and fry the chili for just a moment before you add the tomatoes. After another short moment add the linguine and let simmer for a few minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, remove the chilies and add the pesto. Mix thoroughly.

Divide onto 4 plates and garnish with coarsely ground pepper and fresh basil leaves.

Enjoy!