How to Make Pesto

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Ciao Italianista, this month we are making and tasting food from Liguria. Nothing is more Ligurian than pesto. And it is so simple to make. Just gather some small tender leaves of fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, salt, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Then mix them all together except the cheese using a mortar and pestle or a blender. Spoon the mixture into a bowl and add the cheese. That’s it! Use it as a dip or a pasta sauce.

Pesto

Learn how easy it is to make the delicious Italian pesto sauce from Liguria.

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Cuisine Italian

Equipment

• Mortar and pestle

Ingredients

  

• 1 1/2 cups small basil leaves tightly packed
• 1 clove garlic peeled
• 3 1/2 tbsp. pinenuts
• 1/4 cup olive oil extra virgin
• 2 tbsp. Parmigiano-Reggiano freshly grated

Instructions

 

By Blender

• Wash the basil leaves and dry them thoroughly with paper towels
• Chop the garlic, removing any green shoots in the heart of the clove.
• Place the garlic and basil in a food processor or blender.
• Add the pine nuts and pour in about one-third of the oil.
• Process or pulse, stopping occasionally to press the leaves down with a wooden spoon and to add oil, until the pesto has a slightly chunky texture with some whole pine nuts left.
• Do not overheat the pesto by excessive blending. Spoon the pesto into a ceramic or other non-metallic bowl.
• Stir the Parmigiano-Reggiano into the sauce and add salt to taste.
• Cover the pesto with a film of olive oil until ready to use.
• Note: If you are planning to store pesto for any length of time, do not add the cheeses or garlic, since these ingredients slowly ferment; instead add them just before using the sauce. To store pesto, place it in a glass jar or earthenware container—never use metal or plastic containers or utensils. Cover the surface of the pesto with a thin film of olive oil to prevent oxidation and discoloration and seal tightly. Pesto can be kept in the refrigerator for several weeks if the garlic and cheese have not been added, or it can be frozen for several months.

With Mortar and Pestle

• Place a handful of the basil leaves in the mortar with a pinch of rock salt and pound.
• Then rotate the pestle clockwise, crushing the basil against the side of the mortar.
• Drizzle in olive oil, add more leaves, a few pine nuts and minced garlic.
• Continue to add the ingredients slowly, pounding and crushing until you have produced a chunky paste.
• Dilute with olive oil and mix in the cheese with a spoon.

Video

@justineforelli

How to make organic pesto! click link in bio for full recipe. #foodtiktok #fyp

♬ She Share Story (for Vlog) – 山口夕依

Keyword Basil sauce, Condiment, Liguria, Pesto

Blender or Mortar and Pestle?

There is an age-old question: can authentic pesto be made with anything but a mortar and pestle? What materials should the mortar and pestle be made of?

The anti-frullatoristi say no. They are a faction that is dead set against using food processors and blenders (frullatori). I decided to try both methods. It could be my blender, but the mortar and pestle method was far superior to the mechanical method. And it was way easier.

All Ligurians say that the mortar or bowl should be made of marble. And the pestle, which is the heavy blunt club-shaped object used to grind the ingredients should be made of olive wood. I went to World Market, Crate and Barrel, Sur la Table, and Williams Sonoma looking for such a combination. It turns out you can buy a set in marble or in hardwood but not a combo.

I chose the olive wood mortar and pestle from World Market. It’s a little smaller than I wanted but I love the feel and the look of the wood. And it was only $19.99. A great deal. Pounding the basil and garlic by hand gives the pesto a rougher texture and more intense flavor than using a blender. Also, the blenders chop instead of pound and so they tend to heat the sauce which you don’t want.

However most Ligurians these days do use a blender. Their mortar and pestles mostly decorate their shelves. Just make sure your blender is made of non-oxidizing steel since some types of metal will oxidize the basil. In fact, in ancient times it was forbidden to harvest the basil with anything but gold or silver tools.

What are the exact ingredients and origin?

Ligurians do not agree on what exactly pesto should be made with. Pestare simply means to crush; it doesn’t specify what the ingredients are. But one undisputed fact is that you must use fresh, tender seasonal ingredients. Only use the small leaves from the pale-green sweet basil plant. Never use bush basil or high yield hybrids.

The Ligurians also like to claim pesto as their own, but historians have traced a paste made of garlic, herbs, olive oil, and cheese back to Virgil in the Bucolics. And basil itself probably came from India by way of the Greeks. It is not native to Liguria and will not reseed itself. It has to be carefully cultivated. But the best basil is apparently grown in the shady streets of old Genoa. Basil grown in the direct sun becomes minty and needs to be blanched in boiling water before use.

What kind of cheese?

What kind of cheese makes the most authentic pesto? There is a long Parmigiano versus Pecorino debate. It basically comes down to a matter of taste or what is available. Some recipes have called for aged gouda, three cloves of garlic and only a few leaves of basil. Apparently, you can add spinach to deepen the green color without anyone objecting.

To make a true Ligurian pesto, you don’t even need the pine nuts. Especially if you are making it for minestrone, a hearty Ligurian vegetable soup. You only need basil, olive oil, salt and garlic.

Stay tuned for my next posts on some Ligurian dishes that go well with pesto. Like foccaccia, minestrone, and ravioli. And later we will make pandolce just in time for Christmas.

con amore,
Justine