Ingredients
Serving per person
Dried tea leaves (Sencha) 20g
Almonds 20g chopped finely
Grated Parmigiano Reggiano 20g
Garlic ½ clove, finely chopped
Olive Oil 50ml
Sunflower oil 10ml
Anchovy 2 fillets
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
Bacon 15g chopped
Whole garlic clove
Spaghetti 100g
Grated Parmigiano Reggiano (optional)
Method
1. For the pesto, start by grinding 20g of tea with grinder or blender. The tea should be a fine powder.
2. Pour the chopped almonds, grated cheese, garlic, salt and pepper, olive oil, sunflower oil and anchovies into the blender and blend with the green tea until you have a thick paste. If paste is too thick, add a little more olive oil and continue to blend. The paste should be reasonably thick and not runny. Once made, scoop out the pesto, put in a bowl, stir and set aside.
3. Boil water and cook spaghetti as per instruction on the package.
4. While the spaghetti is cooking, fry the chopped bacon and a whole garlic clove in a little olive oil. Once the bacon is crisp (about 5-7 minutes), remove from the pan and drain any oil on a piece of kitchen paper. Discard the whole garlic clove – it’s done its job.
5. Once cooked, take the spaghetti off the boil and drain – reserve a little pasta water.
6. Mix the bacon with the spaghetti and stir. Put 100g of spaghetti/bacon mix on a plate and add 2-4 teaspoons of pesto the (depending on taste) and 1 tablespoon of the reserved pasta water.
7. Add a little grated parmesan (if you like) and you’re good to go