Pesto Sauce
Pesto is a cold Italian sauce from Genoa, made with fresh basil, pine nuts, Parmesan, garlic, and olive oil. It is not cooked - processed raw and mixed with hot pasta. Its fresh, herbaceous flavor is unmatched.
⏱️ Cooking Time: 5 minutes
🥘 Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves
- 1/3 cup pine nuts (or cashews)
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- Salt to taste
👨🍳 How to Make
- 1
Wash and thoroughly dry basil leaves.
- 2
Lightly toast pine nuts in a dry skillet (2 minutes) until golden.
- 3
In a food processor, add basil, garlic, and pine nuts. Pulse to chop.
- 4
Add Parmesan and pulse more.
- 5
With processor running, drizzle in olive oil until a paste forms.
- 6
Adjust salt.
- 7
Mix directly with hot pasta (do not cook the pesto).
🔄 Cooking Variations
| Method | Time | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arugula pesto | 5 min | Replace basil with arugula for a pesto with a spicier, more bitter flavor. | |
| Red pesto (rosso) | 5 min | Use sun-dried tomatoes instead of basil. Add roasted pepper for color and flavor. |
💡 Tips
- ✦ Do not cook pesto - heat oxidizes basil and darkens it. Mix with already cooked pasta.
- ✦ Cashews are an affordable substitute for pine nuts and taste delicious.
- ✦ Cover with olive oil in the jar to preserve the green color.
- ✦ To freeze, put in ice cube trays - each cube is one serving.
🧠 Did You Know?
Authentic Genovese pesto is made in a marble mortar (mortaio), not a food processor. "Pestare" in Italian means "to pound".
The Genovese are so proud of pesto that there is a world championship for mortar-made pesto.
🥗 Nutrition Info
A 30g serving of pesto contains about 130 kcal, 1g of carbohydrates, 4g of protein, and 12g of fat (mostly unsaturated from olive oil). Rich in vitamin K from basil.