Chilli crisp pesto pasta

Ingredients

• chilli crisp15 ml
• garlic clove1 ea
• roasted salted cashews20 g
• basil leaves — roughly torn40 g
• caster sugar3 g
• Parmesan — finely grated20 g
• olive oil15 ml
• lemon juice15 ml
• trofie pasta80 g

Method

1. Add half the chilli crisp, the garlic, cashews, basil, sugar and 1 teaspoon of flaked sea salt to the small bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to form a coarse paste. Add the Parmesan, olive oil and lemon juice and pulse again until you have a coarse pesto (you can also do this in a pestle and mortar).
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil and season generously with salt. Drop in the pasta and cook for about 10 minutes, or until al dente. Drain, reserving 60 ml of the pasta water.
3. Return the drained pasta to the pot and add the pesto and half of the reserved pasta water, then stir well until the pasta looks creamy and silky. Add the rest of the pasta water if the sauce needs loosening.
4. Transfer to a bowl (or eat straight from the pan) and spoon over the remaining chilli crisp.