Mary Berry explained: “Pistou is a classic Provençal sauce made of basil, garlic and oil.” These three ingredients are also the base for a pesto sauce.
The only difference between the Provençal sauce and a pesto sauce is that the latter has pine nuts and Parmesan included in the recipe.
To cook a delicious pistou linguine, all you need are the fresh ingredients and about 10 minutes of your time – and the right equipment.
Necessities for the linguine recipe include a food processor, saucepans, and a cheese grater to make the easy dish in no time.
Serving between four to six people, here’s how to make Mary Berry’s pistou pasta dish.
Pistou linguine
Serves: four to six people
Ingredients:
300g linguine pasta
25g butter
500g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
75g Parmesan cheese, grated
For the pistou sauce
Four tbsp roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
Four tbsp roughly chopped basil
Two tbsp roughly snipped chives
Two garlic cloves, crushed Juice of one lemon
200g full-fat crème fraîche
Salt and black pepper
Method
To make the pistou sauce
Place the herbs, garlic, lemon juice and crème fraîche in a food processor and whizz until the herbs are finely chopped. Season with salt and pepper.
Cook the linguine in boiling salted water according to the packet instructions.
While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a deep frying pan, add the mushrooms and fry over a high heat for about two minutes.
Cover with a lid and cook over a low heat for three minutes, then remove the lid and fry over a high heat until golden and all the liquid has evaporated. Spoon the mushrooms into a bowl.
Drain the pasta, reserving two tablespoons of the pasta cooking water.
Add the pistou sauce and the reserved pasta water to the frying pan and heat until just boiling.
Tip in the cooked pasta, season with salt and pepper and toss until coated and warmed through.
Remove from the heat, add most of the Parmesan and mushrooms and toss to combine.
Tip into a bowl, scatter with the remaining Parmesan and mushrooms and taste for seasoning.
