Pesto is my favorite sauce to make. I love the sensory experience of pounding it and smelling it and tasting it as I go. Pesto is more than a pasta sauce: it’s delicious on sliced tomatoes, as a dipping sauce for vegetables, on a pizza, or as a sauce for grilled chicken and vegetables.
Recipe information
Yield
makes about 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Pick the leaves from: 1 bunch of basil, to yield about 1 lightly packed cup.
Step 2
In a mortar and pestle, pound to a paste: 1 garlic clove, peeled, Salt.
Step 3
Add and continue to pound: 1/4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted.
Step 4
Add: 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese.
Step 5
Transfer this mixture to a bowl. Coarsely chop the basil leaves and put them in the mortar. Pound the leaves to a paste. Return the pounded pine nut mixture to the mortar. Pound the leaves and pine nut mixture together. Continue pounding as you gradually pour in: 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil.
Step 6
Taste for salt and adjust if necessary.
Variations
Step 7
Substitute parsley or rocket for some or all of the basil.
Step 8
Substitute grated pecorino cheese for half of the Parmesan.
Step 9
Use walnuts instead of pine nuts.
