Pesto alla Genovese
Pesto alla Genovese
Creamy and fragrant Genoese pesto, prepared in a mortar with basil, pine nuts, pecorino And Parmigiano Reggiano.
Pesto alla Genovese is a cold, aromatic, and creamy sauce, designed to enhance pasta without overpowering its texture. Basil provides a fresh, lingering aroma, while garlic and pine nuts create a rich, rounded base. pecorino And Parmigiano Reggiano They add flavor, structure, and a deeper note. The ideal region for this preparation is Liguria. Mortar processing preserves a slightly grainy consistency and allows the ingredients to gradually blend until a thick, uniform sauce is obtained. The result is a particularly good accompaniment to trenette, mandilli de saea, and trofie, but it can also enrich a summer minestrone served just warm. For the trofie, green beans and floury potatoes cooked in the pasta water complete the sauce with soft and complementary consistencies.
Instructions
ShareVoice reading
5 steps · natural Italian voice
Prepare garlic and salt
Pour a few grains of coarse salt into the marble mortar and add the cloves of garlic. Crush them with regular movements until you obtain a smooth paste, without visible pieces. Work delicately so as not to heat it. the mixture: the consistency must be creamy and the garlic scent clearly perceptible.
Add basil and pine nuts
Add a few small basil leaves, alternating them with small handfuls of pine nuts. Crush and rotate the pestle after each addition, so as to combine the ingredients without tearing the leaves too much. Continue until the mixture it becomes uniform, soft and bright green in colour.
Incorporate the oil
Pour in the extra virgin olive oil little by little, continuing to crush and rotate the pestle. Use the oil to moisten the mixture and make it workable: the pesto must have a creamy consistency, fluid but not liquid, with no evident separation between the oily part and the solid part.
Combine the cheeses
Gradually add the pecorino seasoned Sardinian and the Parmigiano Reggiano, already grated, and mix them together with the pestle. Adjust the smoothness with the remaining oil and, if necessary, reduce the amount of cheese to obtain a smoother cream. Finish when the pesto is smooth, thick, and homogeneous.
Use pesto
Season the pasta with the freshly prepared pesto, preferring trenette, mandilli de saea or trofieFor the latter, cook a handful of green beans and a few slices of floury potato in the same water, then drain them along with the pasta. Use the pesto to flavor a warm summer minestrone soup.
Chef's Tips
Crush the basil with circular movements and add the oil little by little: the mixture it must remain green, creamy and not overheated.
Ingredients
- Ingredients for 6 people
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 6 bunches of basil
- (2.82 oz) 80 g pine nuts
- (2.82 oz) 80 g of pecorino seasoned Sardinian
- (2.82 oz) 80 g of Parmigiano Reggiano
- 1 glass of extra virgin olive oil (1 tsp) 1 teaspoon a pinch of coarse salt
Can't find it in the US?
- Pecorino SardoItalian delis or online
Aged Manchego
Or: Pecorino Romano, 20% less
Pecorino Romano is saltier and sharper.
⚠️ Automatic ingredient-based detection. Always check product labels.
Translate