Pesto alla Genovese, fresh basil pesto
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pesto, a flavorful green basil sauce
this well known classic is full of strong flavors, and is very quick to make. goes great on pasta or spread on a piece of toast.
Ingredients for 4
- 2 large handfuls of fresh basil leaves
- 1 or 2 table spoons of pine nuts
- 50 grams (1.7 oz) of grated Parmesan cheese
- 50 grams (1.7 oz) of grated Pecorino Romano or Sardo Cheese
- 1 or 2 cloves of garlic
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt or sea salt
how to prepare, taken from the video
Start by combining half of the basil, pine-nuts and cheeses together with a food processor. Use any kind of food processor a hand held one like the one in our video or a more traditional table top food processor.
Grind this first batch down quickly, stopping briefly to add in a little salt and extra virgin olive oil.
Once that first batch is ground down, add in the rest of the basil, pine-nuts, cheese and one clove of garlic. If you prefer more garlic add in two cloves, sometimes we make pesto without any garlic, it’s really a personal preference.
Grind everything down until you have a thick green paste, this might take a couple minutes.
Scoop out the pesto into a bowl and add in a healthy dose of extra virgin olive oil. Mix the olive oil in well, and add some more if needed to achieve a thick silky texture.
The pesto is now ready to be served with the pasta of your choice.
When you mix the pesto and pasta together add a teaspoon or two of the water from the cooked pasta to the pesto before mixing it into the pasta.
it's about italian food
and sharing how we make it from our kitchen in florence, italy. we enjoy cooking and learning new recipes and hope you will too. buon appetito, and thanks for stopping by. more
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