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Pesto

Be sure to rinse and dry the basil leaves well. I give mine a shake outside my kitchen window. I haven’t lost a leaf yet. (Although some of the people down below on the sidewalk might wonder where that basil-scented mist is coming from.) Those of you who prefer to live less vicariously can use a salad spinner or shake them in a tea towel.

If using a food processor or blender, or similar device, I recommend grinding up the nuts, garlic and cheese first, then adding the remaining ingredients and pureeing them until smooth. No need to pre-chop the basil leaves – just add them right in, and stop the food processor a few times to scrape down the sides as you go.

Course: Condiments , Others

Ingredients

  • 2 cloves garlic peeled
  • 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 5 cups (120g) loosely-packed basil leaves
  • 5 tablespoons (75ml) best-quality olive oil
  • 2 ounces (60g) grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup (30g) pine nuts walnuts, or shelled pistachios, very lightly toasted

Instructions

    Cup of Yum
  1. Smash the garlic and salt together in a mortar and pestle until smooth. (You can also use a blender or food processor. See headnote for instructions)
  2. Coarsely chop the basil leaves, then add them to the mortar and pounding them into the garlic as you add them.
  3. Once well-mashed, when they’ve become a fairly smooth paste, pound in the olive oil, adding it a spoonful at a time, until well-incorporated.
  4. Lastly, pound in the cheese, then the pine nuts.
  5. Continue mashing everything for a few minutes until the pesto is as smooth as possible.

Notes

  • Fresh pesto should be served within a day or two after it’s made. Otherwise the garlic can become overpowering. It can also be frozen for a few months, if well-wrapped.
  • Note: Curiously, although I don’t think it’s so traditional, I used to eat at a pasta restaurant in San Francisco that made the best pesto pasta. It was simply prepared and delicious; just a hot pasta tossed with lots of pesto. It wasn’t until I ate their alone and sat at the counter, which had a view of the kitchen, and I saw the cooks adding almost a full stick of butter to each pasta as they swirled it in the pan with the pesto! I don’t think you need to eat a stick of butter with your pasta, but at the risk of upsetting traditionalists, a small pat of butter does round out the taste of the pasta pretty well. And I’ve know good cooks to sneak in some Emmental cheese along with the Parmesan.