The next level trick for your pasta pesto

With a view of Como, I ate pasta that still makes me feel a bit queasy. It has never tasted so good, so divine, so everything like it did then. But now I think my neighbors from FavorFlav have discovered the secret. Just read how to make that masterful pasta with pesto.

Sometimes things seem so logical once you know them, that you can't imagine ever doing it differently. This trick for the ultimate pasta pesto is one of those things.

Last week I stumbled upon an article from Bon Appétit where they share their recipe for the very best pesto. It's always nice to have a good pesto on hand, but my aha moment occurred at the bottom of the article under the heading: ‘A note on the best pasta of your life.’ For the creamiest and silky pasta pesto, add a knob of butter and a splash of cooking water.

Of course, I couldn't think of anything else for the rest of the week and made it for lunch this weekend. And lo and behold, it worked. A little bit of butter makes the pasta extra shiny, beautiful, and tasty. The butter also helps soften the flavor of the pesto, which can sometimes be quite intense due to the garlic, Parmesan cheese, and basil. You don't need much, a teaspoon per person is enough, along with a splash of the pasta water.

Pasta trick

If you're afraid that you'll get a lot of angry Italians on your back for putting butter in your pasta, you can breathe easy. The Italian cuisine is known for olive oil and lack of butter, but especially for a lot of flavor. In Italy, it's not strange at all to get a plate of pasta with sauce AND a knob of butter on top in a restaurant. So this trick actually applies to any pasta. I've been adding a small knob of butter to my spaghetti aglio olio for years, so I don't know why I hadn't made the connection with pasta pesto yet. What I do know is that I'm never going to do it differently again, and hopefully, you won't either.

Recipe: FavorFlav.com