Tie this one on for size

When I first discovered farfalle, I was at Macaroni Grill on the east coast. I remember there was a huge smile on my face. It was amazing to me that one could create a bow-tie shaped pasta. It was too adorable, and more than that, really fun to eat. Today's dish was just that: a little fun, a little sophisticated, simple, and way tasty.

Farfalle with grilled raddichio, fennel, olives, and herb-walnut pesto

It's super important to soak walnuts before using. Not only does this aid in digestion, but it also helps remove some of the astringent effects of the delicious nut. Being a purist at times, I personally don't mind it too much as I could eat a boat load of walnuts from the shell. After soaking the nuts, dry toast them in the oven to bring out their nuttiness. The pesto was made by adding the walnuts, a bit of garlic, and chopped fresh sorrel and basil to a food processor. Once pulsed, a bit of lemon juice was pulsed in, then extra-virgin olive oil. Pulse is key. If you keep the food processor running, you will end up with a herb walnut butter as opposed to a pesto. The pesto should still retain some texture and show up as a feature on the dish. The farfalle was tossed with the pesto, a smidgen more extra-virgin olive oil, Hawaiian sea salt, raw shaved fennel, grilled raddichio, and kalamata olives. Utilizing the whole fennel, the fronds were used as a garnish. Fronds are also nice to an infused water or even to a vegetable stock.