As tourism work was greatly affected worldwide because of the Pandemic, Gene, one of Hello Singapore tourist guide, found a side gig that allowed him to be active and moving around. Just like among other tour guides who can't keep still and needs to keep moving, Gene wanted to make the most of his free time.
So what has he been doing? For two to three days a week, at 6 am in the morning, Gene cycles to an industrial area near his home. The massive 4 storey building has many different small to medium scale food processing and food packing companies, making produce like rice noodles, different tofu products, or slicing fresh chicken for packing. However, on the rooftop, it's a different industry altogether.
Gene has found work as a farmhand at a large, rooftop, hydroponics greenhouse, in a land-scarce Singapore! He is learning the whole process on the farm which includes seeding, harvesting, packing, and maintenance. It has been fun and also quite hard work, but for Gene, nothing beats harvesting rows and rows of produce, especially harvesting Genovese Basil also known as Sweet Basil!
Hello! Singapore tourist guide Gene inside the green house.
He says, the heavy aroma of basil is pleasantly intoxicating and makes for a therapeutic work experience every time. Along with the small group of workers, it's a nice little community for bonding. Other produce grown includes lettuce, chye sim, some mint, and rosemary. Sometimes if there are leftovers from the harvest like basil, Gene takes it home.
Making use of the freshly picked basil from the farm, Gene has learned to make delicious fresh pesto! Experimenting with different pesto recipes, and also trying a few pasta dishes to go with the fresh pesto, He recently made a basil walnut pesto (pine nuts are just too expensive), which he then attempted to make spaghetti pesto with broccoli, brown mushrooms, prawns(shrimp) for his parents and sister. It was quite a small victory because they really loved it! Yum!
Spaghetti Pesto ala Gene
Pesto Ingredients:
6 ~8 cloves garlic
1/2 cup walnuts (use pine nuts if you want)
4 cup packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Pasta ingredients:
350g Spaghetti
1 small head broccoli chopped to bite size pieces
3/4 cup sliced brown mushrooms
30 deshelled frozen prawns (small)
2 cloves sliced garlic
Olive oil for frying
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup pasta water (saved from cooking pasta)
Method:
Combine all Pesto ingredients in a blender or food processor and use the pulse blending function, so that pesto is slightly grainy looking and not blended too fine.
Sufficiently thaw frozen prawns and pat dry. Then when ready, start first with boiling, salted (1 tablespoon salt) water. When boiling, add spaghetti to cook for 7 mins.
At the 5 mins mark, add the broken up broccoli in the same pot as pasta and cook for another 2 mins together.
Save 3/4 cup pasta water and put aside, then drain off all remaining boiling water.
Run pasta and broccoli in tap water till cooled down or dunk in a pot of room temperature water to cool pasta and broccoli. Then set aside.
Heat pan on med-high heat add some olive oil and fry sliced garlic for 2 min. Then add prawns to fry for 2 to 3 mins. Remove prawns, set aside.
In the same pan with oil and garlic, stir fry mushrooms for 3 minutes, then add the pasta and broccoli and fry for another 3 mins. Add the fried prawns in the mix for 2 mins, then turn off the heat completely. Add some of the saved pasta water in the mix and stir in 10~12 tablespoons (or to your preference) of the fresh pesto you made. Continue to stir and mix. Add more pasta water if required and salt and pepper to taste.
When sufficiently mixed, plate up to serve.(Serves 4)
Gene’s friendly note:
Salt and pepper are added at the end to taste.
Use more garlic if preferred.
Lightly toast walnuts for a little more flavour, but cool them down before adding for blending. Hazelnuts, almonds, or pecans can be used too.
Pasta water adds some starchiness and volume to the final pasta dish.
Frozen deshelled prawns are used for convenience. Make sure sufficiently pat dry with a paper towel before frying for nice searing.
Use whatever mushrooms, or a mixture to as you please.
Use whatever pasta that you like.
Enjoy your delicious fresh spaghetti pesto with broccoli, mushrooms, and prawns!
