Pasta al pesto

Eastside Road, September 30, 2010—

PASTA COMES IN different shapes for a practical reason; the shape often reinforces the physical communication of the taste and texture of the dish. Last night's stradelle, for example — I'd never encountered them before — were perfect for expressing their flint corn-flour base: a hard, grainy dough that needed a very thin but wide shape to put its qualities across as features, not flaws.

Tonight we had fusilli, coil-spring shapes designed to hold their sauce nicely. I'd made a pesto of basil from the garden as well as a bunch from the market, with pine nuts, garlic, Parmesan, salt, and olive oil, of course; tonight's was heavier than usual on the basil but otherwise very familiar to us. Slice tomatoes before; green salad after, and

Cheap Pinot grigio