Pesto...

[wolfie2kX 528]

Tonight, I made some Pesto alla Genovese - an old world Northern Italian dish that I haven't made in a long time...

 

It's so simple, anyone can make it. It takes just 7 primary ingredients - and to it, you can pretty much add whatever you like.

 

1 lb of Linguini - cooked.

 

6 oz Basil (the regular variety, not the Thai)

2 oz pine nuts - toasted lightly

4 - 5 cloves of garlic, peeled.

3 oz parmesan cheese, grated (note, you can also use Romano or a combination of both. Asiago will also work in this case.)

4 oz olive oil (extra virgin, please!)

Salt to taste.

 

Back in the day, pesto was a royal PITA to make requiring Popeye's arms and a mortar and pestle and a lot of work grinding the ingredients down into a paste (hence the name Pesto). You used to have to put a bit of salt in the mortar along with garlic and basil and you used the salt to grind the ingredients up. The olive oil is there to lighten the sauce up. The basil and cheese otherwise would make things a bit too thick.

 

But we live in the 21st century so we don't need to go there. You can make the sauce in about a minute or so using a food processor or blender. Put everything into the bowl of the blender/food processor (except, of course, the Linguine) and puree it until it becomes fully processed into a sauce.

 

Serve over warm pasta and Bob's your uncle. The sauce should not be cooked! Cooking destroys the flavor of the basil and garlic...

 

Of course, there are many, many things you can do with the base sauce.

 

- Like add crispy bacon bits - freshly made. Feel free to add some of the bacon drippings in place of some of the olive oil for an extra burst of bacony goodness.

- Julienned Sundried tomato (dried or preserved in olive oil - If you use the dried, you will want to rehydrate them using warm water or if you use the preserved in olive oil variety, feel free to use a bit of the oil instead)

- grilled chicken breast cut into strips or other bite sized pieces.

- olives - seeded, of course

- sautéed mushroom slices.

- any combination of the above. You can go as crazy as you like or not.

 

Note, you don't HAVE to use Linguini - you can use spaghetti, fettuccini or for that matter, any other type of pasta. It can also be served on baked potato, or boiled spuds.

 

You can also use the base sauce on toasted bread, pizza, sandwiches or anywhere you need a bit of sauce.

 

 

[gogoblender 3,071]

Not only does the recipe sound delicious, but the way in which you described it even more so. I love always reading here about the chemistry involved in making good, tasty food, that part you wrote about how cooking destroys this dish makes sense.

I've always had my eye on pesto, but never really got around to making it at home, though I do love it's aroma, and have seen it added to different pre made products at my grocery store.

 

Sad though about the mortar and pestle not needed anymore. And while I can imagine the pesto being able to be created in a blender, I'm wondering if along the way we also haven't lost some of the magic of crushing and smashing food repeatedly and getting sore over the course of a few hours from being added to the creation.

 

Thanks for your write up Wolfie, shame you don't have a pic of what you made too

Blame me for being hungry?

 

gogo

[chattius 2,531]

The season for bear garlic is almost over but:

 

Our around the garden recipe:

Bear garlic (garden close to forest)

young nettles (around waste water pit)

dried tomatoes (the ugly ones which were riping assymetric, and wouldn't look nice on a bread)

roasted walnuts (own trees)

thistle-oil (a woman does this in a neighbour village)

mixed in a big mortar and put in bottles.

 

When used on noodles, parmesan cheese is freshly added.

Tastes great as a base for pizza

or on a baguette with tomatos and mozarella

or...

So we normally do no cheese for the storable pesto in bottles.

[wolfie2kX 528]

Not only does the recipe sound delicious, but the way in which you described it even more so. I love always reading here about the chemistry involved in making good, tasty food, that part you wrote about how cooking destroys this dish makes sense.

I've always had my eye on pesto, but never really got around to making it at home, though I do love it's aroma, and have seen it added to different pre made products at my grocery store.

 

Sad though about the mortar and pestle not needed anymore. And while I can imagine the pesto being able to be created in a blender, I'm wondering if along the way we also haven't lost some of the magic of crushing and smashing food repeatedly and getting sore over the course of a few hours from being added to the creation.

 

Thanks for your write up Wolfie, shame you don't have a pic of what you made too

Blame me for being hungry?

 

gogo

 

Eh.. I dunno what we could have "lost"... Women with forearms like Popeye the Sailor? Salt poisoning? These are things I can do without...

 

My camera is currently missing. I have no idea where it's hiding. But there are plenty of pics of the ingredients and the final product located on the Wikipedia page for Pesto.

 

The season for bear garlic is almost over but:

 

Our around the garden recipe:

Bear garlic (garden close to forest)

young nettles (around waste water pit)

dried tomatoes (the ugly ones which were riping assymetric, and wouldn't look nice on a bread)

roasted walnuts (own trees)

thistle-oil (a woman does this in a neighbour village)

mixed in a big mortar and put in bottles.

 

When used on noodles, parmesan cheese is freshly added.

Tastes great as a base for pizza

or on a baguette with tomatos and mozarella

or...

So we normally do no cheese for the storable pesto in bottles.

 

That same Wikipedia article also mentions Ramson leaves in place of basil as being a German variant. No mention of nettles, though. Ramson leaves if you look them up turn out to be Bear Garlic.

 

One more thing... Pesto is like Guacamole in one respect - Pesto will turn brown and icky if left exposed to the air. When storing your pesto - make sure the sauce is put into an airtight container and cover it with a layer of olive oil so the air can't get to it directly. You can store the sauce for up to a week this way.

Edited June 11, 2013 by wolfie2kX

[Delta! 987]

Another way to prevent the pesto from turning brown is by blanching the basil leaves in boiling water and refreshing it in ice water immediatly after, press out as much water as you can without squeezing the juice out of the leaves. Then blend everything together.

 

Other variants include, wallnut and rocket pesto, sundried tomato and chives, chives and pinenuts(a touch more black pepper and salt)... These are only what I have made at the establishments where I have worked. Pestos can be used in so many places with so many combinations.

 

Delta!