Edamame Mint Pesto Pasta

Ever since I read about Eric Gower's cookbook, The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen I have always wanted to get it. Unfortunately it was sold out after I read the review of it sometime back but I finally found it at Kinokuniya. It must be popular as I bought it about three weeks ago as they had two copies and last week when I went back to Kinokuniya, the second copy was gone also. So far, I only know Borders Berjaya Times Square has one copy in Kuala Lumpur.

A quick search over Google indicates that to date, two bloggers have reviewed his book and made a few of his recipes, i.e. Chika from She Who Eats and Renee from Shiokadelicious. Incidentally for all you Renee fans, she is back from a long exodus from blogging and she has posted up some sinfully good chocolate cakes on her blog, so hop over there right now.

As they have tried quite a few of the recipes, I decided to try the Edamame Mint Pesto which appealed to me as I love edamame. The recipe is extremely simple to make and once you have all the ingredients at home, you can whip it up after work. I bought some frozen edamame from Jusco and boiled them in hot water for a few minutes to cook them, then shell them. The edamame beans looked so wonderfully green and plump, I could not resist but pop some in my mouth. I reserved some for topping the pasta once it was tossed with the pesto. I liked the pesto as it was not as rich as the usual Italian pesto (no parmesan cheese!) and the mint flavours are quite faint. Since I was low on my pine nuts, I used almonds for the recipe. The pesto is a bit dry so I added a bit of pasta water when mixing it with the pasta.

Edamame Mint Pesto (Serves two)

1 cup edamame, cooked and shelled (reserve a few to top pasta)

1/4 cup smoked almonds, cashews or pine nuts (reserve some for topping)
1 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped and 1 tablespoon reserved
1 clove ultrafresh garlic, peeled
1/2 cup fruity extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
pasta (I used linguini)

Set a large pot of salted water to boil for the pasta. Combine the edamame with everything else (except the pasta) in a blender and blend. Cook the pasta until al dente, drain it and return it to the pot. Reserve some of the pasta liquid. Mix the pasta with the pesto, adding a bit of pasta water if it is too dry. Make sure you add bit by bit or else your pasta will be a soggy mess. Transfer to large warm bowls, taste for salt, pepper liberally and top with extra mint, extra almonds and edamame.