Cook The Book: Pennette With Spicy Sicilian Pesto

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves, lightly packed, washed and spun dry
• 1/2 cup mint leaves
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 serrano chiles, stems and seeds removed
• 1 tablespoon hot red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1/4 cup sliced blanched almonds
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1/4 cup
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Siciliano plus 1/4 cup

1. Bring 8 quarts water to boil in a large spaghetti pot and add 2 tablespoons salt.
2. Place the basil, mint, garlic, Serrano chilis, red pepper flakes, fennel seeds and almonds in a food processor and pulse 3 times to start the chopping process. Add the 1/2 cup oil and pulse 4 or 5 times to create a thick paste, (not a thin oily sauce). Add cheese and pulse once to mix in, season with salt if it needs it and remove to a container with a lid. Carefully pour 1/4 cup more olive oil over to create hermetic "lid", cover with seal tight lid and refrigerate. This pesto will hold in the fridge like this for 2 weeks. Makes 11/2 cups.
3. Place 1 cup of the pesto in a large warm salad bowl.
4. Drop the pennette into the boiling water and cook to one minute less than the package instructions. Just before it is done, carefully ladle 1/4 cup of the cooking water into the bowl with the pesto. Drain the pasta in a colander and dump into the bowl with the pesto and the water. Toss gently like a salad about 30 seconds until nicely coated and serve with a scant dusting of the cheese over each portion.

fresh basil, mint leaves, garlic, serrano chiles, hot red pepper ubakes, fennel seeds, ubc, extravirgin olive oil, ubc

Taken from www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/11/pennette-with-sicilian-pesto-recipe.html (may not work)