How to Make Basil Pesto

Fresh basil is bst in pesto.

Basil pesto, or Pesto alla Genovese, originates from Italy's Liguria region. This region's soil produces many varieties of herbs and vegetables. The dishes from Liguria tend to rich in vegetables and light in meats and cheeses. Originally the ingredients for pesto were ground together and emulsified with a mortar and pestle. The Italian word for "pestle" is where pesto gets its name. Since that time, the mortar and pestle yielded to technology and the food processor is the tool most often used to make pesto.

Things You'll Need

• Basil, preferably fresh
• Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• Pecorino cheese (or Romano)
• Garlic
• Salt
• Pine nuts
• Food processor
• Extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

1. Coarsely chop the basil until you have 2 cups. Grate the cheeses until you have 1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano and 3 tbsp. Pecorino.

2. Add the basil, a dash of salt, one garlic clove and 3 tbsp. of pine nuts to a food processor. Process until the mixture forms a paste. Stop to scrape the sides as needed.

3. 

   Add the cheeses and 1-1/4-cup extra virgin olive oil to the paste and mix them into the paste.

Tips & Warnings

• Pesto is something you have a lot of latitude with to suit your taste. For example, some recipes add a little black pepper and some replace a portion or even all the pine nuts with a different nut, such as walnuts. The amount of basil and olive oil varies widely from recipe to recipe.

References

• Simple Italian Food: Recipes from My Two Villages; Mario Batali; 1998
• Pesto recipe; Barefoot Contessa; Foodnetwork.com
• The History of Pesto