Tagiatelle with Watercress and Walnut Pesto and Olives stuffed with Garlic

God speed to Gino D'Acampo with his Italian Adriatic Escape! This fantastic cookery book offers up a variety of wonderful and authentic recipes from along the Italian coast; a mix of traditional recipes that really bring the magic and wonder of Italy into you kitchen, but also some combinations of flavours and heady aromas that you never would have dared to try, and they work like a lucky charm. If you love Italy, I suggest you whip out you colander and get busy! 

   One example being this recipe I tried out last week. The thing I've always tried to maintain in this blog is that my kitchen ''shenanigans'' are not taxing on your watch or wallet, and this as you will happily discover is taxing on neither. This only took around 30 minutes from start to finish - you just need a good blender for the homemade pesto (I was rather inventive and used my smoothie maker!) and make sure you time your pasta - bring the water to boil first with a generous amount of salt, and then put in the tagiatelle for no more than 7 minutes, as this will give it the al dente finish that means it is still firm to the bite - just as the Italians like it!

   Watercress was an intriguing change from the usual basil that I would have made my pesto from, but this works just as well, and the result is a light green, creamy pesto that is delicious and compliments the pasta beautifully. 

Delizioso!