Pasta con Palta (Pasta with Avocado Pesto)

This easy, luscious recipe for pasta con palta (pasta with avocado pesto) comes courtesy of Sandra A. Gutierrez, an expert on the cuisines of Latin America, from her book, Latinísimo.

Here’s what Sandra says about this recipe from her tour de force cookbook, Latinísimo: Home Recipes form the Twenty-One Countries of Latin America:

If you like pesto, just wait until you try this version made entirely with avocados. A no-cook sauce that’s a cinch to make, this is one of my favorite recipes to teach in my cooking classes because it always delights and surprises with its creamy and subtle taste.

In Chile, avocados come in all different sizes—from miniature one-serving fruits to some that are as big as my head. Make sure to cook the spaghetti before you make the sauce, which takes only a couple of minutes to assemble.

Once prepared, this superb (and vegan!) sauce must be enjoyed immediately, as it will not keep for long.

How to Find a Ripe Avocado

Here are Sandra’s tips on how to know when an avocado is perfectly ripe:

Do you know how to truly know when an avocado is ripe? Yes, pressing slightly on the flesh to make sure it yields is a good start, but that alone doesn’t work. I have a method that I call the “belly button test.”

Avocados have belly buttons—the place where the stems meet the flesh. If you pull gently on the stem and it stays in place, the avocado is unripe. If when you tug at the stem it comes out easily, the avocado is ripe.

But there is ripe, and then there is rotten, and when it comes to avocados this is a very fine line indeed. Here is where the belly button comes in: check the color of the flesh that peeks out at you from the indentation left by the stem. If it’s yellow or bright green, your avocado is perfectly ripe. If it’s brown, your avocado is overripe and growing roots inside.

If you’ve ever made stringy guacamole, your avocados were overly ripe and past their prime. It only takes a day to go from a flawless avocado to a spoiled one.

Available on Bookshop.org*, Amazon*, and wherever books are sold.

Adapted from LATINÍSIMO © 2023 by Sandra Gutierrez. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Photography by Kevin Miyazaki.

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Yield: 4 to 6

Pasta con Palta (Pasta with Avocado Pesto)

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This recipe for pasta con pasta, or pasta with avocado pesto, is by Sandra A. Gutierrez, an expert on the cuisines of Latin America

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pound (16 ounces) spaghetti or fettuccine 

• 2 Hass avocados 

• 1⁄2 cup (2 ounces) walnut pieces 

• 2 garlic cloves, chopped 

• 2 tablespoons olive oil 

• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons fine sea salt, or more to taste 

• 1⁄2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste

Instructions

1. Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted, boiling water, according to the package directions, until al dente. 
2. In the meantime, halve, seed, and remove the flesh from the avocados; place the flesh in the bowl of a food processor or in a blender. Add the walnuts, garlic, and oil; process or blend until smooth. 
3. As soon as the pasta is ready, reserve a cup of the cooking water; drain the pasta and place it in a large bowl. 
4. Toss it with the avocado sauce; season with salt and pepper.
5. If the sauce is too thick, drizzle some of the hot cooking water that you reserved and toss again, until it reaches your preferred level of creaminess. Serve at once.

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