Fulfill that craving for spring with this Parsley Pesto

First off, I apologize for my absence. I had some medical issues in the last few weeks that took up most of my energy. I'll make it up with an exceptionally tasty recipe.
A magazine that I absolutely love is Everyday Food. Not only is it filled with loads of inspirational ingredients and mouth-watering recipes, they really have an upper hand with food photography and layout. Their March 2009 Issue focused on one my favorite foods: Pasta. One recipe in particular caught my eye:

Fettuccine with Parsley Pesto

• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 3/4 pound fettuccine
• 2 cups packed fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup walnuts, plus more chopped for serving
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 5 ounces baby spinach

1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water; drain pasta, and return to pot.

2. In a food processor, puree parsley, walnuts, Parmesan, garlic, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons water until a paste forms. With machine running, add oil in a thin stream; process until very smooth, about 1 minute. Season pesto with salt and pepper.

3. To pasta in pot, add pesto, 1/4 cup pasta water, and spinach; toss to combine. Thin with pasta water as needed. Serve sprinkled with walnuts and Parmesan.


Notes:
The walnuts in the pesto add body and depth to the flavor, but you could also use cashews, peanuts, or any other nut favorite. Stay away from pre-salted nuts as this may lead to undesired results. Sprinkling the walnuts on top of the pasta when done added a pop of texture and crunch to keep your mouth happy.

I cut the baby spinach into ribbons by rolling several leaves together and then slicing. This made them more manageable to eat rather than leaving them whole, and added pretty streaks of greenery in the dish.

A food processor is almost a must for this recipe. The parsley leaves are so lightweight that they don't like to go near the blades of my magic bullet. (I have yet to get myself a KitchenAid Food Processor.) I bought one for my boyfriend, Doug last year and they are absolutely amazing. But that's another blog entry ;)

The parsley had a little bite to it, but a fresh finish which made the range of flavors expansive for so few ingredients.

I added more garlic than the recipe called for. Looking back I would've gone with 3-4 cloves total. But I LOVE garlic.

My final pesto turned out a bit bland, so I underestimated my salt and pepper a bit. Be sure to taste your pesto and remember that it will be cut with water when tossed with the pasta, so over seasoning a bit wouldn't be so bad.

When I heated up some leftovers, the parsley had lost it's bite and smelling it cook in the microwave again made me think that a quarter of a sweet onion added to the pesto would be a nice addition.

All in all I really enjoyed this recipe. It was such a nice twist on a classic pesto and really does taste like spring. This dish would be a nice compliment to a sun-warmed deck and a large pitcher of iced lemonade.