You’ve seen the leaves…you know what’s coming….Pesto!
A couple of months ago now I had coffee with the gorgeous Emiko – a very talented woman who is extremely talented in the kitchen (her cookbook is coming out soon…) as well as behind the lens. Currently living in Italy, she is a regular on food 52 and cucina corriere and I can say hand on my heart – she never gets it wrong. I have tried numerous recipes of hers and each one is just perfect. A couple of months ago now, she published a post on instagram advertising her hand drawn illustrations for different traditional Italian recipes. I knew I could not miss out on the drawings so I purchased two – one for Squid Ink pasta and one of Pesto alla Genovese. They are currently hanging in my kitchen and inspire me to use fresh ingredients all the time.
Emiko’s pesto uses the freshest of fresh ingredients and most importantly, it’s made using a mortar and pestle. And that’s really the only way you should be making it too. It does take more time (your wrist will be hurting by the end) but if you use a chopper and metal blade your pesto will turn a dark green almost black colour. In all honesty I did once cheat and use a blender to make pesto because I had a whole plant of basil, but it just didn’t cut it – it quickly went from a vibrant green to a dark black colour and looked gross.
When using a mortar and pestle, it is really important to crush the basil leaves with some rock salt as this will prevent them from oxidising too quickly. The beauty of using a mortar and pestle is you can see it transform from a bunch of leaves into a creamy mixture whilst inhaling the delicious smells PLUS you can add as many pine nuts and cheese as you wish. Thanks Emiko for the great recipe and illustration 
- Basil (the smallest you can find, ideally the typical ones from Genova), washed and patted dry
- Rock sea salt
- Garlic
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Pine nuts
- A mix of grated parmesan & pecorino (in a ratio 1:3)
- Take two generous bunches of basil...
- Pound the leaves with a bit of rock salt in a mortar..
- Add a clove of garlic...
- Add enough olive oil to make a creamy paste, before adding a handful of pine nuts to the mortar
- Finally a handful of finely grated Parmesan goes in, then taste for seasoning.
- *If you can't find the typical small Genoan basil and only have the large leaves - blanch them quickly in boiling water (to further avoid oxidation).
- *Pesto is served typically with trofie - a short cut pasta. The traditional "trofie al pesto" dish also calls for boiled potatoes and green beans.
- *Pesto can be stored in a glass jar, topped with oil but it will last for about a week (max). If not it can be frozen.
L'articolo Pesto alla genovese *recipe* sembra essere il primo su Loveateverybite.
