Recipe - Spaghetti Chanovese (Spaghetti Genovese with Japanese Green tea)

Spaghetti Chanovese

(Spaghetti Genovese with Japanese Green tea)

Chocolate with chicken, pineapple on pizza, egg and bacon ice cream – culinary crimes or fantastical flights of foodie fancy? The more “experimental” (and yes, we think pineapple on pizza is a step too far) end of the food chain is always going to be divisive but we at Iron Kitchen have found a leftfield recipe we think you’ll love.

Spaghetti Chanovese is a twist on the traditional Italian dish spaghetti Genovese and features green tea pesto. That’s right, green tea pesto. So stow your sunblush tomatoes, can your kale and stash your spinach. And definitely banish your basil because we’re making Pes-tea (sorry!).

As well as tasting great and surprising your friends, eating green tea leaves helps provide Vitamin E and Catechins.

This dish is perfect with a cup of Sencha served in an Iron Kitchen Hikifune Green teapot.

 

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