Pasta and Pesto

My friend gave me some Lumache, snail shaped pasta, as a souvenir from Italy. She didn't know how to cook it so I gladly cooked it for her. Having a jar of ready made pesto in the fridge at all times is really useful for a quick pasta dish. I sometimes prepare my own pesto, but the ingredients are hard to find all year round in Japan, so I end up using the store bought kind a lot. I usually make this pesto based recipe for Gnocchi, but it tasted great with this large pasta too. The ingredients are usually what I have in the fridge on the day, so anything goes....chicken, ham, bacon, sausage, meatless...
Ingredients:
Pasta
1 chopped onion
1 clove garlic
1 red pepper (capsicum), chopped
meat - chopped chicken breast/ham/bacon/sausage. (In the photo I used ham)
1 bunch broccoli, chopped and blanched (boiled slightly)
5 midi tomatoes, halved or quartered (midi are the size between mini and full size, they often have a sweet full flavour and have a dark red colour)
1/2 cup sake or dry white wine
3 tbsps pesto
Salt and pepper
Boil pasta until al dente. Near the end of cooking add broccoli and blanche. While the pasta is boiling, fry onion and garlic in oil for 2-3 mins. Add meat and cook until almost heated through. Add red pepper and cook for a further 2-3 mins. Add sake and broccoli. Drain pasta and add to pan with pesto and tomatoes. Stir to coat, and season.





Here is a photo of Gnocchi and Pesto. I used green peppers and sausage in this dish, and added parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese at the end. Gnocchi is ready very quickly so this dish is great for a quick meal.