Pesto Alla Genovese

My wife and I love pesto!  A few years ago we visited the Cinque Terre where we had Pesto Alla Genovese, this delicious sauce originated in Genoa the capital city of Liguria Italy.  The Cinque Terre “Five Lands” is a beautiful collection of five villages Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza,  Corniglia, Manaroloand, Riomaggiore all built on steep cliffs that follow the rocky coast line of the Mediterranean.

The basic pesto recipe is crushed garlic, pine nuts, coarse salt, basil leaves parmigiano reggiano and pecorino sardo cheese.  I have to admit I generally use whatever cheese I have, but my next batch of this tasty sauce will be made with both.  I’ll post the results on the UpScaleKitchen face book and twitter sites. So how much of each ingredient do you use?  Well while doing research for this blog I found this recipe on “Cookbook:Pesto”

·         4 oz (100g) fresh basil

·         approx. 8 oz (200g) extra virgin olive oil

·         1/3 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese or a 1:1 mixture.

·         1/4 cup pine nuts (optional)

·         4 cloves garlic

·         Freshly ground salt and pepper (to taste)

I use all the same ingredients/proportions just taste as you go.  Also my research found a different preparation method than I typically use. Toast pine nuts in the oven or fry pan until they just start to turn brown, keep checking or they will burn.  Heat a small amount of olive oil over medium heat add crushed garlic sauté until soft.  Add this flavored garlic olive oil to the basil, garlic, cheese, pine nuts and oil in a mortar and pestle until it forms a smooth paste, or use a food processor  ( my first choice) or blender and chop finely, slowly adding more oil to reach the paste-like consistency. I’ll give it a try and report in a future UpScaleKitchen blog, face book and twitter

Manarolo

Trevette al Pesto

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Do you have a favorite pesto recipe post below.