By Seven weeks. Liam laughed. Not a real laugh—a sound that is the precursor to a laugh, an exhaled breath of delight, which is close enough and which happened when Sean was blowing raspberries at him on the changing table. Sean stopped what he was doing and looked at me across the room with the expression of a man who has just discovered that he has more power than he knew.
He has been blowing raspberries at the baby every day since. He would do it professionally if there were money in it.
May in Southie. The East Broadway corridor has come back to life—people on stoops, kids on bikes, the smell of someone's grill on a Tuesday evening carried through the window screen. I've lived in this neighborhood my whole life and this May is the same as all the others and also different in the specific way that everything is different now that it's Liam's first time seeing it.
I've been using the stroller every morning as excuse to walk, which is what the pediatrician meant when she said "try to get outside" and what I knew she meant and what I'm finally doing. We do the waterfront loop and come back through the neighborhood and I stop and talk to people when they stop to look at the baby, which is everyone. There is no quicker entry point to a stranger's good will than a stroller in May. People I've lived near for three years have introduced themselves in the last two weeks.
I made pasta with homemade pesto on Sunday, first time since the summer before the pregnancy. Basil from the window box I planted in April. It tasted like the right season arriving.
That Sunday pasta wasn’t planned so much as it was necessary — the basil in the window box had been growing since April, Liam was asleep in the carrier, and it felt like the first moment in seven weeks where I had both hands free and something I actually wanted to do with them. Pesto is the recipe I come back to when I want to feel like myself again, and after all those walks and all those introductions and Sean blowing raspberries like it’s his calling, making something from scratch with basil I grew myself felt exactly right. This is the Italian pasta dinner I made that day.
Italian Dinner Recipes: Pasta with Homemade Basil Pesto
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 12 oz spaghetti or linguine
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
- 1/3 cup pine nuts (or walnuts)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for pasta water
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup reserved pasta cooking water
Instructions
- Toast the nuts. In a small dry skillet over medium heat, toast the pine nuts for 2—3 minutes, stirring frequently, until golden and fragrant. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
- Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Before draining, reserve 1/4 cup of the starchy pasta water. Drain and set aside.
- Make the pesto. In a food processor, combine the basil, toasted pine nuts, and garlic. Pulse until coarsely chopped. Add the Parmesan, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. With the motor running, slowly stream in the olive oil until the pesto is smooth and emulsified. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Combine. Add the drained pasta back to the pot over low heat. Add the pesto and a splash of the reserved pasta water, tossing to coat evenly. Add more pasta water a tablespoon at a time if needed to loosen the sauce.
- Serve. Divide among bowls and top with extra Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil if desired. Serve immediately.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 580 | Protein: 16g | Fat: 32g | Carbs: 60g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 420mg