Oregano/Hazelnut Pesto

4 servings, about 1 1/2 cups each.

Ingredients

15 hazelnuts, toasted*
1 cup (packed) fresh oregano, washed, dried and chopped
Pinch salt
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons shredded parmesan cheese
8 ounces fettuccine (uncooked weight)**
Optional garnish: fresh oregano leaves, chopped tomato

Method

1. Turn the hot nuts into the bowl of the mortar and give them a preliminary few blows with the pestle to break them into pieces.

2. Add the oregano, salt and garlic and combine beating and grinding motions to break the ingredients down further. Add the oil and use a grinding motion to further reduce the pesto to a paste. (If you wish this step may be done in a food processor.)

3. Stir in the cheese and turn the mixture into a sauté pan.

4. Cook the pasta in salted water.

5. Lift the pasta directly from the cooking water to the pan with tongs, allowing some of the water to ride along. Over high heat, stir and toss the pasta and pesto for a minute or two to allow the sauce to thoroughly coat the strands, adding a little more pasta water if necessary to produce a slightly creamy consistency to the sauce.

6. If desired, garnish with a few oregano leaves and a spoonful or two of chopped tomato.

*To toast the hazelnuts, place a dry sauté pan on high heat, add the nuts and stir constantly until they start to turn brown. Remove immediately.

**I use Dreamfields pasta but the Nutritional Estimate shown is based on regular pasta. Dreamfields makes a claim that a 2 ounce (dry) serving -- about a cup and a half of cooked pasta -- has only 5 grams of "digestible carbohydrates," even though the FDA nutrition label on the box shows 41 grams of carbohydrates in the serving. I'm hoping the Dreamfields claim is true but I've not yet found a truly independent confirmation of the Dreamfields claim, so I've decided to be conservative in making the estimates. If you have more information about the Dreamfields claim please let me know.

Nutritional Estimate 4 Servings. Per serving: 347 Calories; 44 g Total Carbs; 6 g Dietary Fiber; 2 g Sugars; 15 g Fat; 41 mg Cholesterol; 178 mg Sodium; 6 g Protein. Weight Watchers: 7 points.