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Pesto is great to make ahead of time and freeze. Then you can whip up a dish like this in minutes. Cooking garlic and white wine instantly make your house smell like a gourmet restaurant.

Toasted pine nuts can be a bit costly, so you can do it yourself with raw nuts. That way you get the lovely smell of roasted pine nuts, which smells surprisingly like popcorn.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch fresh basil
• 1/4 C toasted pine nuts
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed or minced (or more, to taste)
• 1/4 C EVOO
• 2 T red wine vinegar
• 1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese (pre-grated is fine, but doing it yourself it better)
• 1/2 C white white
• 2 C cooked short pasta
• 1/2 C grape tomatoes, quartered

Directions

To make the pesto, put the basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, Parmesan and salt and pepper to taste in a blender. Whip it up. Seriously, it’s that easy. To make the pine nuts, you can either toast them in a toaster oven or in a pan on the stove. Either way, keep your eye on them turning them frequently. You’ll likely burn your first batch, but you’ll quickly get the hang of it. Once made, you can throw the pesto in the freezer and take it out whenever you need a quick pasta dish.

For the pasta, saute a few cloves of garlic in olive oil. Add the white wine and some more salt to taste. Allow the white wine to reduce by half. Then add the cooked pasta and pesto and allow to warm. Right before serving mix in the grape tomatoes. Serve with a little more Parmesan cheese and some freshly grated pepper.