An easy and delicious meatless meal, Rigatoni with Basil Walnut Pesto & Crispy Onions just might become your new favorite!
Dom and I recently spent two fun-packed weeks on the west coast visiting Chels. We hung at the Pacific a couple times – mainly to experience the sights, not to take a dip (still too cold)…we sat in the audience of the Dolby Theatre for PaleyFest and enjoyed Pete Holmes’s interview with Stephen Colbert (and made true my wish to shake Stephen’s hand), we took a French Tart cooking class at The Gourmandise School of Sweets & Savories, and among other enthralling things, we ate. We ate some of the best food I’ve ever had, which is quite the pronouncement given that I grew up with homemade Sunday sauce and meatballs.
From spectacular ramen to handmade orecchiette, fresh mozzarella and warm garlic bread – garlic bread, by the way, that will haunt me forever! I should mention that it is Nancy Silverton’s bread (and orecchiette and mozzarella among other fine-fine things). If you’re not familiar with Nancy of the famed La Brea Bakery, I highly recommend you check out her “Chef’s Table” episode.
Upon reflection, I see that this trip was as much a culinary venture as it was a sweet respite with Chelsea.
So perhaps you’re wondering, with all that culinary inspiration in my face for two weeks, the first meal that I prepared upon our return home…
Cabbage soup. Yep – zero point cabbage soup. (And for any of you familiar with WW, you know the soup I’m talking about.) Day 1: Soup.
Day 2? Rigatoni with Basil Walnut Pesto & Crispy Onions. Hey – cabbage soup can only take us so far.
We returned home to more cold snowy weather, so the idea of a heaping plate of Rigatoni with Basil Walnut Pesto & Crispy Onions made excellent sense to me. Plus – the basil just looked so good. I couldn’t pass it up.
COOK’S NOTES FOR RIGATONI WITH BASIL WALNUT PESTO & CRISPY ONIONS:
- The thing I love about pesto pasta is that most of the ingredients are staple pantry and fridge items.
- When making pesto – you can use just about any nut you like. Though traditionally made with pine nuts – walnuts, pecans, and even almonds make fine substitutes.
- When pairing pastas with pesto, anything that a smoother sauce will cling to is a winner – twisty pastas like fusilli and strozzapreti are fun alternatives.
- Crispy onions make everything better! End of story.
I hope your #meatlessmonday features this beauty of a dish!
And if you decide to give it a whirl – I’d love your feedback and photos! Tag @ciaochowbambina on Instagram, or share to my Pinterest and Facebook page!
MORE PESTO RECIPES TO ENJOY:
Heirloom Tomato, Pesto & Cheddar Crostata
Pesto Chicken with Roasted Tomato & Pine Nut Zucchini Noodle Bowls (aka zoodles)
Bruschetta with Sweet Pea Pesto, Prosciutto & Asparagus
Italian Chicken with Basil Pesto & Grape Tomatoes
Buon Appetito!
Rigatoni with Basil Walnut Pesto & Crispy Onions
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
An easy and delicious meatless meal, Rigatoni with Basil Walnut Pesto & Crispy Onions just might become your new favorite!
Ingredients
4 cups firmly packed fresh basil
2 – 3 garlic cloves, chopped
½ cup toasted walnuts
½ cup olive oil
1 cup grated Parmesan
Salt, to taste
2 large sweet onions, sliced into thin rings
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour plus a pinch of salt and black pepper
olive oil for frying
16 oz. of your favorite pasta, I used rigatoni
Parmesan, for serving
Instructions
For the pesto, combine basil, garlic and walnuts in a food processor with ¼ cup olive oil.
Pulse until you have a slightly chunky sauce, but not smooth.
Add the remaining oil and continue to process until smooth.
Stop once or twice to scrape down the sides.
Stir in the cheese and season with salt. Set aside.
Soak the onion rounds in milk for about 5 minutes.
Heat oil in a large skillet.
Take onions from the milk and place in the flour, mix to coat evenly.
Fry the onions in batches until crispy and evenly browned.
Drain on paper towels. Set aside.
In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta to al dente.
When finished, drain pasta, reserving a cup of pasta water.
In a large bowl, combine the pasta with pesto and a splash or two of the pasta water (should the sauce need to be thinned a little).
Finish with a hefty sprinkle of grated Parmesan and crispy onions.
i love this post and all of the memories of that trip…the absolute best! i also CANT WAIT to make this!! YUM!!!! love you so much mama
Love you so much, sweeta! Such a special trip!! We loved it!! And I think you’ll love the pasta! 😉
Crispy onions on top of pasta, yum!
Yesssss! Yum is right! 🙂
What a great trip – you must have had so much fun visiting Chelsea! You packed a lot in on your two weeks. Love this pesto rigatoni, Annie – this is the perfect dinner or lunch – and it’s great cold too – so easy to make and to have on hand in the fridge for a quick lunch. I also love the ease of pesto – you always seem to have everything on hand and it’s so quick to whip up and gives the pasta so much flavor – a winner all the way around.
We sure did! It was a wonderful vacation! Thanks, Geraldine! I thought you might like this! 🙂
Sounds like you had a wonderful time in CA! lol cabbage soup for sure but like you said cold weather needs something more and this Rigatoni dish is it! I dont know how you come up with all these flavorful and beautiful dishes but keep ’em coming!! Take care 🙂
You’re so sweet! Thanks, Stacey!! 🙂
That pasta is the greenest green! I’ll bet it’s delicious. I love walnuts with basil. Sounds like you had a fantastic vacation.
Nothing better than the greenest green pesto!! Thanks, Jeff!
That was quite a vacation! Culinary adventure and lots of fun with your daughter…what could be better!?
Loving this rigatoni dish – simple and perfectly topped with crispy onions!
Nothing better than that!! Thank you, friend! 🙂
What a fabulous trip, Annie… and a culinary adventure too – despite the cabbage soup (but I looove cabbage soup!). I’d totally faceplant into this rigatoni! I never met a pasta I didn’t like. But that pesto is calling my name! 😀
Thank you, friend! We had a beautiful time! And the soup 😉 and pasta were just what we wanted upon our return! 🙂
Who can pass up a plate of rigatoni with pesto? I know I cannot. Love pasta with pesto and these rigatoni look too good! Never had crispy onions on pasta, but I’m ready for the leap 🙂 . Gorgeous, as always.
Can never pass up rigatoni! This was my first favorite pasta as a child! Thank you, Nicoletta!!
Hah, Annie. Every trip I go on is more of a culinary adventure than a sightseeing tour! All about the food for me! Although your cabbage soup actually sounds pretty appealing to me right now (it’s cold and gloomy here), I will take a plate of this rigatoni instead! Sign me up!
Isn’t true, though! And this culinary adventure proved to be top rate!! Thanks, friend!
The pesto pasta on its own would be great but you have taken it to another level with the fried onions.
Ohhh, I couldn’t agree more! Thanks, Karen!!
What a fabulous looking dish! Those crispy onions to top it off put this one to the top of my must try list!
Thanks, Kevin! I think you’ll love it!
Annie, I am far too familiar with the zero point cabbage soup! Or maybe not familiar enough…. 🙂
This rigatoni looks fabulous. I love rigatoni – so thick and chewy. Your pesto is so fresh and summery – a little taste of summer on a cold Monday. Those fried onions are everything!
Hope you had a lovely visit and omg La Brea Bakery!
Hahaha! Birds of a feather! I am with you – rigatoni is one of my all-time favorites! And we could use a taste of summer with these 20-something degree days! Thank you, friend!
I’m so glad you had fun out west! My sister lives in LA and when I visit her I also need a day or two of cabbage soup :). But this pasta is more my style. . .and I’m definitely going to try it soon! Have a great week, my friend!
Oh yes – a day or two or more…;) I didn’t think cabbage soup would fly on CCB though! 🙂 So glad you like the pasta! Enjoy!!
Such a vibrant color and absolutely delicious flavors going on with this pasta dish! And the crispy onions? I’ll sign up for more of those. Yum!!
Crispy onions coming right up! Thanks, Milena! 🙂
What a fun trip! I’ve been gone for 3 weeks and it’s fun now catching up with my favorite blogs. This is a wonderful pasta recipe with the addition of the onions. Pistachios make a fun pesto as well, as are pumpkin seeds. so much fun to make varieties of pestos!
Yes! Love pistachio pesto, but definitely need to try pumpkin seed! Great idea, Mimi! We had a beautiful time! Thanks, friend!
Just loving the colour of this pasta 🙂 And those crispy onions. And the great flavour of walnut pesto. Ok. Love it all! To heck with cabbage soup, I say!
Doesn’t it just look springy? To heck with cabbage soup!! Yessss! Thanks, Jennifer!
Lol…cabbage soup can only take us so far, indeed 😉 Sounds like you guys had the BEST kinda trip. I always love to eat when on holiday (probably my fave part). I’m usually so full afterwards, but so worth it. This rigatoni looks and sounds marvelous, Annie. Love the bright, vibrant green and especially those onions on top. Way to meatless Monday, my friend 🙂 Have a great week! XOXO
We did! It was great spending so much quality time with our girl! And the meals? Forget about it! Thanks, Dawn!! XOXO
I absolutely love walnut pesto! And pairing it with pasta makes a nice and filling vegetarian meal option. The fried onions on top are a nice touch too!
It sure does!! I could these eat this all the time! Thank you, Leanne!
This is truly beautiful! I love pesto at the best of times – but those crispy onions – oh my goodness! I can only imagine how good this is. Can’t wait to try soon!
That crispy onion coupled with the freshness of the basil pesto is awesome! Thank you, Alexandra!! 🙂
Sounds like you guys had a wonderful time with Chels! This is the perfect, easy comfort food dish Annie! And I’m loving those crispy onions! What a creative idea! I’m definitely going to give your recipe a try. Tom and I would both enjoy this one!
We did! It was great fun!! So happy you like this! And that simple recipe for the crispy onions is so good for so many things…I’m thinking burgers! 😉 Thanks, friend!