Pasta With Mint, Basil and Fresh Mozzarella Recipe (2024)

Pine nuts from China are not real pine nuts. There have been serious problems with contamination as well.

Agreed. Put your colander in the bowl then drain the pasta there. The hot water will warm the bowl quickly. Dump it, dump the pasta in the bowl and voilà.

This was very tasty. I did add some finely chopped fresh tomato at the end for some sweetness, which I think made for a more interesting dish. Used toasted pumpkin seeds instead of pine nuts (because I had them). A bit of lemon zest might not be bad, but that will be for next time.

One good place to buy pine nuts that aren't from China is nuts.com. And no, I'm not related to them at all. Just a satisfied customer who was disappointed to find that pine nuts nearly everywhere else are from China.

Pine nuts are the seeds of pinion pines and are an important food source for many birds and mammals in the west. Please use walnuts instead.

I find that pequine children should be sauteed first to tenderize them before adding them to the pot.

As a substitute for pine nuts, I use walnuts. Toast them lightly, and it's hard to tell the difference. They're also cheaper, but not by much. Don't over-toast; they get very bitter. If you don't toast nuts, you might as well skip them. They're like soap when used raw. Also, ALWAYS store nuts in the freezer. They go rancid very quickly, especially in this weather.

Toasted heart/smart walnuts. Chopped basil, mint, garlic very fine -whisking olive oil/cheeses. Did not want a paste. Added 1/2 cup pasta water to herb cheese mixture into the drained pasta pan on the still hot shut off burner. Put lid on 2 min - stirred put over hot pasta and served with walnuts. DELICIOUS. Could still taste each of the herbs.

Are u all buying Chinese pine nuts? I am not.

"Pasta with heaps of melting mozzarella" is a "light herb and pasta dish"? Say what?

Add chopped tomato at the end
Substitute pumpkin seeds for pine nuts
Add lemon zest at the end

Some people (myself included) have a reaction to Chinese pine nuts. About 2-3 days after eating them I find that EVERYTHING I eat or drink tastes bitter. This lasts 7-10 days.

I also use pumpkin seeds in such dishes: cheaper and gentler on the environment. (But mostly: cheaper.)

No mention of the fact that the recipe is an exercise in futility as long as it involves American "mozzarella". Mozzarella di bufala is the only officially recognised mozzarella in Italy and the product sold in the US tastes more like rubber bands than real mozzarella

Save your money and buy American-grown walnuts. Your pesto will still taste great! I haven't bought pine nuts in years.

This is a summer favorite in our home, as soon as the mint and basil start flourishing. Today we made the pesto as directed (added the pine nuts to pesto as many others have) but broke a small burrata over each serving.* Really nice variation! *Because that’s what we had.

I can't figure out how to get the mozzarella to coat the pasta. I enjoyed the dish, but it had big globs of melted mozzarella + spices and nearly clean pasta. I used egg fettuccine, which is pretty shiny, but I think that the issue would be there for any shape or size.

Very good. Added shrimp sautéed in white wine and used that liquid instead of the pasta water. Also added a squeeze of fresh lemon juice at the end.

it was good. nothing to write home about.

The comments on this recipe ARE WILD. who told you to use Chinese pine nuts? Who cares if you toast or don’t toast? Follow your heart!!! And chill out.

Quantities are off, use packed cups of herbs in regular size food processor, otherwise it’s swimming in even 2 oz olive oil. Way too much for 12 oz pasta.

So good! Used Herbs from the garden and added some green beans at the end of the pasta cooking...summer delight. I used walnuts as many others did; I think many nuts would work well. Thank you for such delicious ideas!

I have used pine nuts from Trader Joe's which claim to be from Russia and I've had no issues with "pine mouth" or lingering bitter tastes or toxicity. They are sold raw and just a couple of minutes in a dry hot skillet results in nicely-toasted pine nuts. Has anyone experienced any ill-effects with Trader Joe's pine nuts?

Added 2 tbs of lemon juice - Yum! will make it again

Excellent! Use the Cuisinart. Consider pumpkin seeds instead of pine nuts

made this with raw unsalted sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts, flash toasted as per recipe. also subbed about half of the basil for dinosaur kale because it's what i had handy. threw in a splash of lemon juice too, which i'd recommend. this recipe is flexible and forgiving, pals!

I thought this recipe was okay. In the future I think I’d reduce the amount of oil, put in more mint, and skip the mozzarella entirely (which I felt like made an already heavy recipe even more so, without much benefit). All my criticism though is just a matter of personal taste. I’m glad I tried this recipe, and it was simple and fun to make.Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).

I did it with half mint and half Thai basil (that's all I had). Also added a little pecorino with the parm. Delicious.

DELICIOUS and super easy and fast!! I second the notion to add tomatoes (something sweet and acidic) to this. The dish would be pretty hom*ogenous with it. My favorite thing about this pasta recipe is the texture and mouthfeel of the noodles and slightly soft and melty mozzarella. PER...FEC..TION.

Thank you to commenters who recommended adding a squeeze of lemon juice and fresh tomatoes to this recipe. The recipe is delicious, but it needed those two hits of acid to balance out the herbs and rich cheesy goodness. Note to self: do not make pesto in the blender. Use a food processor instead.