Basil Garlic Nicoise Pasta with by Chef Ludo Lefebvre

Today we are going to do some Niçoise pasta. It's a dish I have in my restaurant at Petit Trois. And I try to remember how I did this dish, this pasta. I don't remember. I still try to remember how I find this recipe. Where I eat basil pasta. I love Nice, I love South of France, and I want to do a pasta from South of France, but I don't want to do with tomato. I don't know where I find this recipe. I don't remember. Anyway, but it's pretty good. Niçoise pasta, it's a very nice, easy, summer pasta. Super simple and very fast. A good sauce and very fast. We're going to bring to boil the hot water with salt. I use my induction, love induction. It's fast. And we're going to cook the pasta. Make sure it's submerged in the water. So for the sauce I need a little garlic clove. A little bit. I'm going to peel the garlic. Take off the germ in the middle. I'm going to put my garlic in my food processor. So heavy cream. Put all this fresh basil here. So that is very South of France, the basil. That's why we call it Niçoise, because the basil here. We put a lot of basil, like if you do a pesto. A pesto. Regular salt. Kosher salt. You see, pretty easy. Very easy. Cream, garlic, basil, salt. Perfect. So this is our basil cream. I like pasta al dente, but not too much al dente. My grandma, I don't know why, she overcooked the pasta all the time. It became like a very mushy noodles. And trust me, it's good too. It will drive nuts on Italian guys, for sure. But, oh, mushy noodles is good too. It's like when you eat a dumpling, you know. A little more al dente. So I try to figure out how I become with this recipe. I don't remember. But it's good. You know, it's not a very popular recipe. I think that's why people really love it at the restaurant, at Petit Trois. Basil, creamy pasta, spaghetti is not very common. It's not. So most of the time, they think it's tuna pasta. Because Nintoise pasta is a very famous salad from the south of France with tuna and vegetables. Oh, take a little pasta water. Here in my pot for my sauce. I'm going to boil the water. So why we don't use regular water? What do you think? Because the pasta water has flavor of the pasta. It's a little trick to just make the pasta taste more pasta. Put some sauce here. I'm going to bring to boil the sauce. Really smell the basil. It's so nice. Reduce a little bit the sauce. Like a red pasta. It will be more easy to nappé the pasta. We call it nappé. So it will be perfect. Great. Yeah, so it was hot. Yeah, yeah. It's not hot, guys. It's boiling, but it's not hot. I know, I know, I know. I just forgot about that. Okay, I'm going to put my pasta here now. It's hot, Jeff. It's still hot. Jeff, I burned myself again, Jeff. Amazing, Jeff. Okay, I do the pasta here. We're back in business, guys. So, mixing the pasta. Well, if he was an Italian chef, he would put a big piece of butter now. You know? Italians use butter in their pasta. I know that. But they're right. It's good. I don't put butter on this one. You know why, Jeff? I don't know. Just don't need to. Sometimes people ask me why. I say, you don't need to. That's it. You know, Jeff? Very easy. And a little bit of black pepper. A little bit. Now we can see how the pasta is starting to glaze. You see, guys? It's a reduction. You really want the pasta to coat with the sauce. That's a hard time to roll. With the tongs, it's not easy. Macroplains of parmesan on top. A little bit. A little bit of olive oil. A little drizzle. We have our niçoise pasta. Very easy. And very tasty. And so good. Super good, like the restaurant. Good. I love this one. It's so refreshing. Oh, feel on vacation with that. Voila, I make some niçoise pasta. Very simple. Sometimes simple is so good. You know, why to complicate? Oh, one more bite.