It's about time that the Uomo Slim cranked out a new pasta recipe. My friend Roger came by with his family one Sunday afternoon to cook some crabs. Along with the two bushels of live crabs, he brought two huge basil plants that he had grown in his garden. Now if you're Italian you know what to do when someone gives you a large quantity of basil. You make pesto.

Pesto in Italian means paste, and this is a delicious blend of basil, cheese, garlic and olive oil. My dad makes his own pesto at his farm in upstate New York. Paps' Pesto is what it's called, and it can be found in some specialty food shops up there, in the 'Upper U.S.' as we called it when we were kids.

The recipe originates in Genoa, Italy, and I've given it some Slimness. I usually substitute two tablespoons of olive oil for the three tablespoons of butter. I used to use butter substitutes, like "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter", or "This Ain't No Damn Butter", but I've heard (from very reliable sources) that anything containing partially hydrogenated oils is bad, bad, bad. So I use a little more oil, and save a couple of tablespoons of the pasta water (the water in which you boil the pasta, that is) to add to the whole shebang. And I added the toasted pine nuts (pignoli) as a final topping.

I've been topping off a lot of my pasta recipes these days with roasted nuts-pine nuts, walnuts, almonds, etc. I've been using the toasted walnuts on my carrot and onion sauce, and on the asparagus and portobello mushroom sauce, as well. I use toasted almonds on the broccoli sauce. I use a small dry iron skillet. I place it over high heat, toss in the chopped nuts (don't chop the pine nuts!), and flip them around 'til they're toasty brown. Can you imagine-the table is set, the candles are lit, the wine is poured, and the pasta is in the plates - and you turn to the one you love and say "How about some toasted nuts?"

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh basil leaves, cleaned
1/2 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled
4 tablespoons of pine nuts (pignoli)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmiggiano cheese
2 tablespoons of freshly grated Romano pecorino cheese
3 tablespoons of softened butter or two tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons pasta water

Put the basil, 1/2 cup of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of pine nuts, garlic and salt in a blender and blend, baby, blend. When everything is smooth, transfer to a bowl and slowly blend in the cheeses by hand. Actually, a spoon might work mo' better. When everything is well blended, add the softened butter. If you're omitting the butter, wait to add the extra oil.

When the pasta is done, save two tablespoons of the water, and drain the pasta. If you are substituting oil for butter, add the two tablespoons of olive oil to the pasta and toss. Scrape the pesto sauce from the bowl on to the pasta. Take the two tablespoons of pasta water and add it to the bowl, swishing it around to get every last drop of the pesto sauce from the bowl, and add it to the pasta. Toss well, but be gentle. You don't want to 'bruise' the pasta, like my Uncle Oscar says.

For you cheese lovers, you may add a teeny sprinkling of freshly grated Parmiggiano and/or Romano to your individual plates.

Toast the remaining two tablespoons of pine nuts in a small iron skillet over high heat until toasty. Your toasted nuts should be the last thing to go on the pasta dish. If you want to get extra fancy, save some of the small basil leaves and use them to garnish the pasta plates. Most people use spaghetti or linguine for this dish, but I like fusilli. Of course, I like fusilli with almost all my sauces, except for white clam sauce, which will be my next addition to the Ultra Slim Man Cook Book.

Pesto sauce can be used in soups (a dollop in minestrone is heavenly), or spread on chicken or fish before broiling or grilling. My brother, Scopito, uses pesto to make omelettes.

Enjoy!