Hi there
Last week I went to Marks & Spencer to check out their Food Hall at Wheelock Place to see if I can find something special which I can’t normally find in other Marks & Spencer outlets’ food section. 🙂
Right at the entrance, they have piled up bottles and bottles of pasta sauce and also dried pasta, which are on promotions, and there, this bottle of really intense green looking bottle caught my eyes. And instantly I have this idea of cooking this Green Pesto Shrimps Pasta which will add a lot of colors on the dining table. 🙂
This bottle of Green Pesto is product of Italy, so that is the first good sign I find from the product itself.
Its main ingredients simply contain Basil, Olive Oil, Romano Cheese, Cashew Nuts, Pine Kernels, Garlic, Salt etc. From what I have learnt, it is actually not difficult to make this pesto from scratch. 🙂 But you know sometimes busy lifestyle simply just direct us to something simplier and this just fit my bill for a weekend lunch.
Basically this is as simple as it can get, if you only want the pure green pesto flavoured pasta, simply stir through cooked pasta and served. But I will try to make something a little fancier and takes only a little time of yours (okay, how does 15 mins sound?)
Ingredients you will need include :
- Marks & Spencer Green Pesto Paste x 3 tablespoon
- Vermicelli x half pack (serve 3 pax) – This is the skinnier version of spaghetti
- Shrimps x 6, deshell & devein (keep the shell, this is optional)
- Coriander x 2 stalks, chopped finely
- Garlic x 3 cloves, crushed
- Lemon Rind x 2 pcs, finely sliced or julienne (see below how to peel lemon rind)
- Salt & Pepper (optional)
 
Directions :
- Boil vermicelli in hot salted water
- In a separate pan, pour some oil and sauteed the shrimp shells, to extract the shrimp oil (this is optional)
- Discard the cooked shrimp shells, and drop in a cube of butter to deglaze the pan
- Sauteed the shrimps until partially done, spoon in crushed garlic and sauteed for 30 secs until you can smell the aroma and switch off the fire
- Sprinkle chopped corriander
- By the time, you finished cooking the shrimp, the pasta is done, so sieve the vermicelli and swiftly mixed in the green pesto
- Place shrimps on top and sprinkle some lemon rind and chopped corriander to add a further dose of color. 🙂
 
Okay, you may wonder why I used lemon rind rather than lemon juice. Actually you can use both, and it really depends if you want more tangy flavour or just that subtle lemon citrus essence.
If you use lemon juice, some may find it is quite tart, so my recommendation to them is to try using lemon rind. Your dish will look pretty from the bright yellow rind too. 🙂
Before you actually try your hands using a knife to cut the rind, I have a quick solution to it. And it is the regular peeler.
This is by far the best way you can use to peel lemon rind. Bear in mind, when you cut the lemon rind, always cut off the white portion, because this layer of lemon peel actually taste quite bitter, you only want the lemon citrusy fragrance, so only stick to the yellow portion. 🙂
All you need to do is peel, slice diagonally, and Viola, that’s it. Its that simple. 🙂
This recipe is actually a little similar to the Maggi Spaghetti Recipe I wrote in the past, and feel free to tweak this recipe, try using ingredients like mussels, or scallops, or even just some roasted chicken. 🙂
And now come the taste test of this Marks & Spencer Green Pesto. Hmm…
I find the Green Pesto tasted rather bland, you can taste the basil but hardly any nutty flavor to it. I would prefer something with more of the pine nut flavour which kind of bind the whole pesto together. But perhaps I also did not use salt in this dish, as I usually don’t use much salt, I think next round when I use this paste, I might try cooking something a little salty, to see if the saltiness can bring out the flavor.
Another thing is that, this green pesto is slightly drier than other brands, when I scoop out the pesto, there is hardly any olive oil in there, so I think if you have any good virgin olive oil at your home, drizzle some on the piping hot pasta before scooping this pesto paste in it.
I also did try to mix the green pesto into the shrimps gravy, just let the garlic and corriander infuse a little, it does taste a little bit better but still something was lacking.
Next time, I will definitely try it with more olive oil, some parmesan cheese and perhaps roasted chicken, see if it will turn out better.
At $6.95, is it worth this price? I will say if it is branded by Marks & Spencer, the price sound reasonable to me, and also you can hardly finish the bottle in one seating, and you can store in the fridge up to 2 weeks after opening. They also have a sundried tomato flavor too if you are keen to try out another version of this. 🙂
QUICK & SIMPLE RECIPES : GREEN PESTO WITH SHRIMPS PASTA RECIPES
PRODUCT REVIEWS : MARKS & SPENCER GREEN PESTO
Available : Marks & Spencer Wheelock Place
Price : $6.95 per bottle
Happy Cooking!
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Cheers,
Dawn