Pesto sauce: recipe for cooking. Video
You can hardly find at least one gourmet – lover of Italian cuisine, who is not familiar with the famous pesto sauce. Born in Liguria, the freshly flavored pesto sauce has become widely known far beyond the Mediterranean. A worthy representative of Italian cuisine, famous for its dishes made from simple but fresh and high-quality ingredients, prepared with a minimum of effort, pesto has not only a classic version, but also many quite traditional variations.
The origins of the pesto sauce are shrouded in mystery, but culinary historians agree that the origins of this specialty are most likely to be found in Persia or the Arabian Peninsula. The “progenitor” of pesto may have been the walnut sauce known as salsa di nochi. The first mention of pesto is the description of a sauce made of garlic and herbs, given by Salvatore Massonio, an Italian physician and historian of the XNUMXth century, in one of his essays. The first pesto recipe was published several centuries later in the famous La Cuciniera Genovese. The very name of the sauce comes from the Italian word pestare – to grind, crush – and has to do with the original method of its preparation. Traditionally, pesto is ground in a circular motion with a wooden or marble pestle in a similar mortar. Ligurians are proud of “their” sauce and even legislate for the traditional genovese pesto recipe.
Genovese is the traditional name for everything that comes from Genoa. The famous pesto genovese in the exact translation is pesto in genoese
Ingredients for Genoese Pesto
In order to prepare the famous classic pesto sauce, you will need: – 100 g of fresh basil leaves; – 30 g of pine nuts; – 60 g of grated Parmesan; – 2 cloves of garlic; – 10 g of sea salt: – 80 ml of olive oil. From the specified number of products, you get 300 g of pesto.
The brief description of the ingredients does not convey the fullness of the requirements for traditional Genoese pesto. So, the basil should be of a special kind, grown in the vicinity of Genoa. Basil genovese is one of the PDO protected foods. It has a strong but mild flavor with distinct mint tones. You also need local Ligurian olive oil. Taggiasco oil has a special, sweetish fruity taste. Pine nuts must be imported from Sicily. The only liberties the Ligurians take is their choice of cheese. Parmesano reggiano, grana padano, pecorino sardo or pecorino romano are also good options.
PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) is a legally approved mark placed on products grown and processed only within a strictly designated area
To make a traditional pesto sauce, you will need a marble or wooden mortar and pestle. Wash the basil leaves in cold water and pat dry on paper tea towels, blotting but not wiping. In a mortar, rub the basil leaves, peeled garlic cloves and pine nuts in a circular motion, add salt and grated cheese. When the mixture becomes viscous, start pouring in the olive oil a little at a time. Grind until smooth, smooth, creamy sauce. All of the oil should soak into the sauce, not float on top of it.
Sicilian pesto, also called siciliano pesto, red pesto, or rosso pesto, is a sauce made using the same technology, but with the addition of sun-dried tomatoes, almonds instead of pine nuts, and much less basil. Olives are sometimes added to pesto rosso and the basil is replaced with thyme leaves. Take: – 100 g of sun-dried tomatoes, canned in oil; – 50 g pitted olives; – 30 g of pine nuts; – 30 g of grated parmesan cheese; – 2 cloves of garlic; – 1 tablespoon of thyme leaves; – 150 ml of olive oil.
Due to the harder texture of tomatoes, you can cook this sauce in a blender. Drain the excess oil from the canned tomatoes and place them in the blender bowl. In a dry frying pan, fry the pine nuts and let them cool, put them on top of the tomatoes. Add cheese, thyme, garlic and purée in pulse mode. Pour in the olive oil drop by drop while continuing to mix. Store the prepared sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
The Calabrian pesto, or Calabrese pesto, is native to southern Italy and is much more tangy and spicy. You will need: – 2 fresh red bell peppers; – 1 cup ricotta cheese; – ½ cup grated pecorino cheese; – ½ cup grated Parmesan; – ½ teaspoon of crushed red pepper; – 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil; – salt.
Pour enough water into a wide saucepan to cover the whole peppers. Bring it to a boil, lower the peppers, simmer for about 5 minutes, then let cool without removing from the pan. Alternatively, you can bake the peppers in the oven and then place them in a plastic bag for 5-7 minutes to loosen the skin. Skin the peppers, place them in a food processor bowl, add the cheeses, salt and chop, adding a little olive oil.
Pesto sauce is placed in hot pasta, it is spread over the dough for some types of pizzas, and pesto is also great with meat, fish and poultry, fried or grilled.