Name: PESTO
Prep time: 5 min
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: basil (2 ounces fresh basil leaves (no stems)); pine nut (1 ounce pine nuts); garlic (2 large cloves garlic); extra-virgin olive oil (3,4 ounces extra-virgin olive oil); parmesan cheese (6 tablespoons Parmigiano Reggiano); pecorino cheese (2 tablespoons Pecorino); coarse salt (1 pinch coarse salt)

PESTO

Pesto is a simple and aromatic condiment ready in a few minutes.

You can buy it in a jar or in the refrigerator section of your grocery story, but there’s nothing better than making it yourself.

Fresh basil is now found in abundance in supermarkets: just clean it, remove the stems and throw the leaves in a food processor with pine nuts, garlic and extra virgin olive oil and you will have a fragrant and tasty condiment excellent for seasoning pasta but also for accompany chicken or fish.

The best way to eat it is, in my opinion, as a dressing sauce for gnocchi, because the texture of the potato gnocchi fits well with the creaminess of the pesto.

But if you don’t like them or can’t find them, other types of pasta will do just fine too.

DifficultyVery easy
CostCheap
Preparation time5 Minutes
Serving4
Cooking methodNo cooking
CuisineItalian

Ingredients

basil (2 ounces fresh basil leaves (no stems))

pine nut (1 ounce pine nuts)

garlic (2 large cloves garlic)

extra-virgin olive oil (3,4 ounces extra-virgin olive oil)

parmesan cheese (6 tablespoons Parmigiano Reggiano)

pecorino cheese (2 tablespoons Pecorino)

coarse salt (1 pinch coarse salt)

Tools

1 Blender

Steps

STEP 1

First, clean the basil by taking only the leaves.

Rinse quickly under water to remove any earth residues.

Gently dry with a cloth.

STEP 2

Put the leaves in the blender glass.

Add the salt, the peeled garlic, the pecorino, the parmesan, the pine nuts and half of the extra virgin olive oil.

Start blending and while it is blending pour the rest of the oil.

It is very important to blend several times and not continuously for up to 2 minutes.

This is to prevent the blender blades from overheating and cooking the pesto making it dark.

The pesto is ready to be used as a condiment for pasta or as a condiment.

NOTE

The consistency of the coarse salt helps to grind the basil better; it is not recommended to replace it with fine salt.

Cheese doses can be modified according to your tastes: by varying the proportion between Parmesan and Pecorino you will obtain a sweeter or more salty pesto respectively.

Remember: pesto must not be heated at all, but at the most diluted with a little of the pasta cooking water to make it more creamy and velvety.

Perfect dose of pesto for pasta is one tablespoon per person.

STORAGE
The pesto can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight jar for up to 3 days.

Alternatively you can freeze the pesto.

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