Pesto Ramen

For my birthday, among other items, I received something I had been wanting for a long time.  And it was not something that a typical 15-year-old boy would want.

This cookbook is amazing – it’s written by a James Beard-awarding food writer with the help of David Chang.  David Chang is many things – he opened the Momofuku ramen restaurant in NYC, and he has a new Netflix series called Ugly Delicious – I highly recommend watching.  Anyway, one of the 101 awesome recipes in here is a recipe for pesto ramen.  “Pesto” and “ramen” are two of my favorite words, so a combination of them?  Should be amazing.  Let’s get cracking.

This recipe is great because it has just a few ingredients – everything one needs for a delicious pesto is below.

First thing you’re gonna do is toss the olive oil, garlic, and pine nuts in the Cuisinart.

Next, stuff the basil down that weird little hole without slicing off your fingers.  It’s tricky.

When your garlic and basil smoothie is smooth, throw in the shredded cheese.

And… you’re done!  That’s all it takes to make pesto – make it now while basil is in season.

Next, take out your steamed noodles…

… And stir in the pesto!

Now, for a taste test

The taste of this can be summed up in one photo:

The pesto was way better then I’ve ever had for one simple reason: it was fresh.  Normally, we make pesto in the summer, freeze it into cubes, and eat it in the winter.  But tonight, I was eating pesto that I had made just hours earlier.

Now, as for the ramen noodles vs Italian noodles, here are my thoughts.  The ramen noodles were a lot more tender and delicate than pasta, and this rich pesto served it well.

I will leave you with a parting message:

MAKE PESTO ASAP.  THIS IS SOME OF THE FINEST BASIL YOU WILL EVER EAT. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT.