Name: Herby cream cheese and pistachio pasta salad
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: serving
Cuisine: Boil
Ingredients: 1 pasta macaroni or penne; 2 handful rocket; 1 handful fresh basil; 1 handful parmesan cheese grated; lemon zest and juice; 1 cloves garlic cloves, crushed; olive oil; 1/2 cream cheese tub; salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste; 1 handful pistachio nuts peeled and toasted; 1 streaky bacon, chopped free range; 3 pinch dried chilli flakes; 2 cup cherry tomatoes

Recipe Disclaimer

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Ingredients (13)

1	pasta — macaroni or penne
2 handful	rocket
1 handful	fresh basil
1 handful	parmesan cheese — grated
	lemon — zest and juice
1 cloves	garlic — cloves, crushed
	olive oil
1/2	cream cheese — tub
	salt and freshly ground black pepper — to taste
1 handful	pistachio nuts — peeled and toasted
1	streaky bacon, chopped — free range
3 pinch	dried chilli flakes
2 cup	cherry tomatoes

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Method:

Bring a large pot of water to boil, add some salt and olive oil, and cook the pasta until al dente (no longer than 10 minutes).
While the pasta is cooking, put the rocket, basil, Parmesan, lemon juice , zest and garlic in a blender and blitz until smooth. Add the cream cheese and olive oil and mix again until thick. Season with salt and cracked black pepper and set aside.

Take the pasta off the heat, drain it (reserving a little bit of the water) and set aside to cool down. Heat a non-stick pan and toast the pistachios then set aside. In the same pan, fry the chopped bacon until crisp, toss in the cherry tomatoes and set aside. Stir a splash of the reserved water through the herby cream cheese. Add the cream cheese to the pasta, along with a little extra lemon juice and some olive oil and stir to loosen the pasta shells. Lastly, toss through the bacon cherry tomatoes, extra rocket and pistachio nuts before serving.

Recipe reprinted with permission of Ultimate Braai Master: Roads Less Travelled (published by Penguin)