Nebraska has a 2-3 month growing season and when the basil grows high- it is time to make pesto! I  like a mixture of basil and parsley in my pesto- I like the “greener” taste that parsley gives to the pesto.

Nothing goes better with pesto than fresh pasta. Today we made handkerchief pasta (Fazzoletti) -simple,silky and delicious. It is essentially ravioli sheets cut into squares. My pasta machine makes this very very  easy but here Mark Bittman shows how you can use a rolling pin to achieve the same effect (https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/dining/12mini.html)

Pesto: 2 cups basil leaves, 1 cup parsley leaves, 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts, 1 clove garlic, 1/2 cup Parmesan reggiano, 1/2 cup olive oil: Use food processor to make a fine paste. Stores in the refrigerator for 3-4 days

Pasta: 2 cups all purpose flour, 2 eggs, 3 egg yolks, 1 tsp salt. Make a fairly dry dough using the absolute minimum amount of water needed ( I used 2 tbsp today). It takes me 4-5 minutes using my kitchen aid stand mixer

Rolling pasta: I used the pasta attachment to my kitchen aid. Start on the first setting- run the dough through thrice (folding into an envelope each time). Decrease the setting by 1 in each subsequent run all the way to the thinnest setting (8). Use flour liberally to prevent the pasta sticking. Cut into large 4 inch squares. Cook in salted boiling water for 3 minutes or so (add the squares one at a time- they tend to stick)

Thin pesto with pasta cooking water, toss with pasta and enjoy the taste of spring.