Tallarines Verdes

Tallarines Verdes, image @janehugentober

This meal has become a beloved part of my family’s regular dinner rotation after enjoying it for the first time at our local Peruvian restaurant, Ayawaska. We ordered their Tallarines Verdes, which was served with sliced steak and we all ended up eating from that one delicious plate of food.

Tallarines Verdes (Green Spaghetti) is a classic Peruvian dish. It’s a green pesto made with a queso fresco and loads of fresh spinach and basil leaves that’s tossed with pasta - linguine is my favorite - and traditionally served with Steak on top or the side. Serving it with Grilled Chicken would be delicious or as a vegetarian or lighter dinner on its own with a salad would be super satisfying as well. I tend to serve it with Steak when I make it at home. Why mess with a good thing? My heart beams every time my boys eat it because it’s packed with so many raw nutritious greens and protein from the walnuts and queso. It feels like a superfood. Through trial and error and several tastings at the restaurant, here is my version.

Tallarines Verdes, image @janehugentober

Tallarines Verdes

by Jane Hugentober

What I love most about making this is that it’s delicious every single time. The ingredients for the green pesto are combined and blended just before coating the pasta with it and serving it. The steak grills all the while the pasta is cooking. I reserve at least two cups of the hot salty pasta water to put back into the pesto to thin it out before serving. Dinner is ready within 20 minutes. I like to serve this meal with Grilled Skirt Steak (recipe for another time) and with a side platter of thickly sliced Heirloom Tomatoes drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sea salt.

Yield: 6-8 servings.

Preparation time: 10 minutes, Cooking time: 10 minutes.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups packed spinach leaves

1 cup packed basil leaves

5 ounces cubed queso blanco or fresco - I estimate breaking off a little more than 1/2 of a 9 ounce package of queso. No need to weigh it.

3 garlic cloves, peeled

1/2 shallot, peeled - 1/4 onion, peeled, can be substituted if you don’t have shallots on hand

1/4 cup walnuts

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup evaporated milk - I measure out 1/4 cups from the can of evaporated milk and use one and then freeze the other portions in baggies to use for the next time I make it. You can easily dethaw them under warm water and then, there’s no need to open a new can nor waste anything.

Healthy pinch of kosher salt

Healthy grinding of fresh pepper

3/4 lb of pasta - I make nearly one 1 lb. of pasta but I don’t use the entire package. I’ll save the minimlal that I don’t use but I like to make sure that I have plenty of the pesto sauce for the pasta and err on the side of extra sauce vs. a drier sauce/pasta ratio. You’ll appreciate the extra sauce for sopping up on Steak or Bread, however you serve it.

2 cups hot salty pasta water - Reserve this much after you cook the pasta and before you drain the pasta, as you’ll be adding it back into the pesto sauce as desired to thin out the thickness. The seasoned pasta water is perfect for this.

PREPARATION

Step 1

Break up the queso, peel the garlic and the shallot

Step 2

Combine the queso, olive oil, spinach, basil, garlic, shallot, walnuts, evaporated milk, salt and pepper to the blender. Blend until smooth. Adjust salt to your liking. 1 tsp. total of salt might be the sweet spot. Keep sauce covered tightly and in the blender until tossing with the pasta. This fresh pesto tends to oxidize and turn from a bright green to a darker green with oxygen and so, I usually wait to dress the pasta until right before we are ready to eat. I like the greens staying the intense green color.

Step 3

Bring salted water to a boil and cook the pasta to your liking. I prefer nearly al dente, so the pasta doesn’t turn to mush after I add the pesto. Don’t forget to save 2 cups of the hot pasta water before draining it away.

Step 4

Toss with hot cooked pasta and serve immediately. Thin out the pesto with some of the hot pasta water as you toss with the pasta. You’ll see how that goes and will adjust to the consistency you prefer.

NOTES

Serve with Grilled Steak or another protein or with a side platter of sliced Tomatoes. Cook or grill the protein while the pasta is cooking.