Cooking with my daughter - Pasta and Pesto Sauce

I love cooking with my daughter and we often bake together in England.

Here in Brittany, if she is not too busy sailing with her Dad (and pulling up lobster pots), bodyboarding in the sea, playing crazy golf, or swinging at the park, she'll help me prepare a whole meal.

The other day we made Pasta and Pesto Sauce from scratch!  She was wonderful, turning the handle of the pasta machine, and generally helping.  All her hard work was really worth it, the very best pasta and pesto I have ever eaten.

We made a simple pasta, we used ordinary flour (300g) and 3 eggs.  Rather then making the pasta on the counter, we made it in a dish, and the flour worked well.  Once the pasta had been kneaded, we split it into four pieces, wrapped them in cling film and put them in the fridge for half an hour.

Meanwhile we made the pesto sauce, using garlic, basil, pine nuts, olive oil and Parmesan cheese.

We pounded the sauce in the pestle and mortar as I don't have a food processor.  It is an extremely satisfying activity, and we managed to use three large bunches of basil.  The house smelt divine.

We took the pasta out of the fridge, and rolled it.  Then we put it through the pasta machine, reducing the thickness as we went along.  Once all the pasta was rolled we attached the spaghetti maker and ran the pasta through it, we ended up with a wonderful pile of thin spaghetti.

We popped it into a pan of boiling, salted water, and in the meantime heated up the pesto sauce, adding some of the pasta's cooking water.  When the pasta was cooked, a matter of minutes, we drained it and added to the pesto saucepan.

We had grated parmesan to add, when we sat down to eat.

This was a most satisfying meal to share with my family, my daughter and I had both enjoyed sharing the making of it.  And although I know that there are often time constraints, I would recommend that you have a go at making a pesto sauce together, and buy some fresh pasta.  Or you could  buy a sauce and make the pasta, you'll all enjoy it, and there is something so satisfying about sitting down to share a meal you have all contributed to. (NB my husband set the table, and made a green salad for us to eat after the pasta!)

Mother and Daughter
Pesto Sauce with Pasta

Flour and eggs

Incorporate together

Once kneaded divide into four

Pop in the fridge

After half an hour role out the pasta

Good and thin

Run through the pasta machine a few times

It will eventually be far longer and thinner

A straight line helps once your making the spaghetti

Gather it together 

And let it dry

Meanwhile make your pesto sauce

We used a Jamie Oliver sauce, which you
can find online

We pounded everything together

boiled the pasta

Warmed the sauce

Added some pasta cooking water,
before the pasta

And served in a big bowl, so we could all share

Fantastic!

I am submitting this to the Tact Care to Cook Recipe Challenge  run by Bangers and Mash, you can have a look at her blog and details of the challenge, here.

Tact is a wonderful charity which helps looked after  children (those who are in care) to move into loving  adoptive families.  I hope you'll have a look at their website, which you can find here,  and consider supporting them in their work, perhaps by buying the cookery book that has been published at the amazing price of £3.00.  I'm going to order a copy of the book as soon as I'm back in England,  and look forward to trying one or two recipes.