Tom's mushroom tagliatelli with home-made pesto.

As I am often told, being vegetarian is a pain for people when I go to theirs for dinner. Despite Tom moaning a little, he made this extraordinary pasta dish especially for me, for which I am uber-grateful. 

Courtesy of Tom, here it is!

For the home-made pesto (because shop bought stuff isn't veggie):

• handful of fresh basil leaves
• handful of pine nuts
• some veggie cheese (as much as you fancy), finely grated
• olive oil

1. This is so simple. Just chop the basil as finely as possible and put in a bowl. 
2. Chop the pine nuts to as close as a powder as possible. Add to the basil.
3. Throw in the cheese. 
4. Mix all together with a dash of olive oil. Start with a small amount of it then add more if needed. It should resemble a paste. And there you have it! Home-made pesto.

For the mushroom pasta:

• one batch home-made pesto
• 4/5 chestnut mushrooms, washed and sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• two wheels of tagliatelli
• olive oil

1. Pour some salted boiling water into a saucepan and add the pasta. 
2. About 5 minutes later, heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Throw in the mushrooms and sauté for a couple of minutes until soft. Add in the garlic.
3. When the pasta is cooked, drain and put back in the saucepan. Add in the garlic mushrooms and the home-made pesto and toss together until it's all coated. Season with olive oil, salt and pepper and serve. 

Voila! A lovely vegetarian pasta dish that's tasty but not too time consuming.