Pesto (Italian Grandmother Recipe)

Pesto (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpesto], Genoese: [ˈpestu])is a sauce originating in Genoa in the Liguria region of northern Italy (pestogenovese),and traditionally consists of crushed garlic, basil, and Europeanpine nuts blended with olive oil, Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmesan cheese), andFiore Sardo (cheese made from sheep's milk).

Pesto is commonly used on pasta, traditionally with Mandillide Sæa (Genovese dialect - literally "silk handkerchiefs"),trofie ortrenette. Potatoes, sun dried mushrooms, little green beans are alsotraditionally added to the dish, boiled in the same pot in which the pasta hasbeen cooked. It is sometimes used in minestrone. Pesto is sometimes served onsliced beef tomatoes and sliced boiled potatoes.

Because pesto is a generic term for anything that is made bypounding, there are various other pestos, some traditional, some modern. Pestoalla genovese is made with Genovese basil, salt, garlic, Ligurian extra virginolive oil (Taggiasco), European pine nuts (sometimes toasted) and a gratedcheese like Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano and pecorino Sardo or pecorinoromano.

A slightly different version of the sauce exists in Provence, where it isknown as pistou. In contrast with pesto genovese, pistou is, in general, madewith olive oil, basil, and garlic only: While cheese may be added, usually in atraditional pesto no nuts are included because no pine trees grow in there toprovide the nuts. Pistou is used in the typical soupe au pistou, a heartyvegetable soup with pistou flavour. The sauce did not originally contain basil,however. Instead, cheese and olive oil were the main constituents.

Sometimes almonds are used instead of pine nuts, andsometimes mint leaves are mixed in with the basil leaves.

Pesto alla siciliana, sometimes called pesto rosso (redpesto), is a sauce from Sicilysimilar to pesto genovese but with the addition of tomato, almonds instead ofpine nuts, and much less basil. Pesto alla calabrese is a sauce from Calabria consisting of(grilled) bell peppers, black pepper and more; these ingredients give it adistinctively spicy taste.

Outside Italy,the household name "pesto" has been used for all sorts of cold saucesor dips, mostly without any of the original ingredients: arugula (instead of orin addition to basil), black olives, lemon peel, coriander, or mushrooms. AGerman variety uses ramson leaves instead of basil. In the 19th century,Genovese immigrants to Argentina brought pesto recipes with them. A Peruvianvariety, known as "tallarines verdes" (meaning green noodles, fromItalian tagliarini), is slightly creamier, lacks pine nuts (because of theirrarity and prohibitive cost in Peru),may use spinach and vegetable oil (in place of olive oil), and is sometimesserved with roasted potatoes and sirloin steak.[citation needed]

In Singapore,an Italian-Peranakan fusion version called laksa pesto is popular. The recipehas the flavour of the local curry noodle soup, laksa but is made using thepesto method.

Vegan variations of pesto can include mixes of fresh basil,nuts such as walnut or pine nut, olive oil, and the addition of miso paste andnutritional yeast to provide additional flavor enhancement to the dish.

The technique grandmotherrecipe here is : chop a bit, add some ingredients, chop some more. I thinkpart of the reason she does it this way (instead of chopping everything all atonce) is because some things get chopped into oblivion, while some not as much- it encourages specturm of cut sizes throughout the pesto contributing to theoverall texture. All told, the chopping took me a leisurely twenty to thirtyminutes, I wasn't in any particular rush.

You'll notice this recipe doesn't have any added salt (justthe saltiness from the cheese), make sure your pasta water is well salted ifyou are going to use this pesto on pasta or the overall flavor profile willfall flat. Also, be sure to adjust for seasoning before serving. With food thissimple, you need to get the seasoning right.

Ingredients

-         1 large bunch of basil, leaves only, washed and dried

-         3 medium cloves of garlic

-         one small handful of raw pine nuts

-         roughly 3/4 cup Parmesan, loosely packed and FRESHLYGRATED

-         A few tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

-         Special equipment: large mezzaluna for chopping