The pesto is lovely, although I would have added a bit of lemon zest next time (so I've added it to the recipe below). It just needed a little of that warm fragrant lemony touch. Also, when I have fresh lovely sweet green peas from my garden, I would toss a handful of those in the food processor as well.
This recipe also allowed me to conquer one thing I had never tried, trimming a whole artichoke. It was surprisingly easy. That being said, I absolutely would not bother doing it again for this recipe - canned or marinated artichoke hearts would have been perfectly fine. Honestly, I'd make this with no artichokes at all next time and do a separate vegetable side, the pesto really stands on its own.
How cool are these when you cut them open?
I wanted to pair the robustly flavored pesto with something relatively mild, so tilapia fillets lightly sauteed in olive oil with a squeeze of lemon fit the bill perfectly.
2 cups flat leaf parsley
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
zest from 1/2 a lemon or so
1 can artichoke hearts (optional), sliced thin
4-6 oz dried pasta (I used farfalle)
2 tilapia fillets, patted dry
a lemon, halved (use the one you zested)
Cook your pasta in boiling salted water according to the package directions.
Combine the parsley, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, garlic, olive oil, lemon zest, a pinch of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper in your food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Fold the pesto into your pasta along with the sliced artichoke hearts.
Season your tilapia with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add a drizzle of olive oil to a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and pan fry your tilapia until golden and easily flaked with a fork. Mound the pasta in a wide bowl and top with the tilapia and a big squeeze of lemon.
Serves two, takes about half an hour.
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