Classic Pesto Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Classic Pesto Recipe? ›

Pesto is a sauce originating in Genoa, located in Italy's northern region. It originated around the 16th century and traditionally consists of crushed garlic, basil, and pine nuts blended with Parmesan cheese and olive oil.

Pesto is a sauce originating in Genoa, located in Italy's northern region. It originated around the 16th century and traditionally consists of crushed garlic, basil, and pine nuts blended with Parmesan cheese and olive oil.

Traditional pesto is a blend of fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, extra-virgin olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. With a food processor, it comes together in just a few steps: Pulse the nuts, lemon juice, and garlic in the food processor until they're finely chopped.

The basic ratio is 1:2:2:8 (1 part nuts, 2 parts oil, 2 parts grating cheese, 8 parts leaves or herbs), plus garlic, lemon, and salt and pepper to taste.

Add a pinch of salt if the basil tastes too bitter or the pesto needs more zing. Add more Parmesan if you'd like a creamier/cheesier pesto. If desired, you can thin out the pesto with more olive oil.

Because its ingredients include olive oil, nuts, and cheese, pesto can be high in calories and fat. However, the fat is primarily unsaturated and may have heart health benefits. Pesto is also full of antioxidants that can help protect your cells from damage.

Italian Tradition

It can be mixed into tomato sauce to enhance the flavor of pasta dishes or used with fish fillets to make them more appetizing. There are other versions of pesto with variations in the ingredients, but these are not part of the Ligurian tradition.

The most common reason for pesto tasting bitter is that the olive oil is past its best and has started to turn rancid. If the pesto has been made in a food processor or blender, there's also the possibility that it has turned bitter from the crude, sheering action of the blades.

Its scarcity, plus the fact that the plants are picked roots, soil, and all to ensure that only juvenile leaves make it into pesto, makes it extraordinarily expensive and something that only premium, artisan pesto makers can justify using.

FAQ: How Long Does Homemade Pesto Last? You can store this basil pesto in a jar or sealable container, then tightly seal and refrigerate for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 2–3 months. Let it thaw at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

How to make pesto Rachael Ray? ›

Add nuts, garlic, zest of 1 lemon and salt to a food processor and pulse into a fairly smooth paste. Add cheese to nut paste and add about 3 tablespoons EVOO; process until smooth. Pulse process basil into sauce until fairly smooth, adding juice of 1 lemon and remaining EVOO.

Pesto Sauce

This fresh and fragrant pasta sauce is served uncooked, so choose a pasta shape that won't overwhelm it. Similar to oil-based sauces, pesto is served best with longer cuts of pasta, like the corkscrew shape of Fusilli. Pesto works best with Bucatini, Capellini, thinner Spaghettini, and Fettuccine.

Everyone agreedthat the store-bought version was cheesier and nuttier; the homemadeversion had a stronger garlicky kick and basil brightness. Notably, by the end of dinner, only the pasta with homemade pesto had run out. Make it from scratch for a dinner party. But for a weeknight dinner in a pinch, I'dbuy the Buitoni.

The most important tip: Be generous with salt and basil!

These form the main pesto flavour so you don't want to scrimp on them - it will lead to a bland taste. If your pesto looks too dry, add more oil. You can also add more lemon juice if you want a stronger kick.

Pistachios, almonds, and walnuts or even seeds like sunflower, sesame, and pumpkin can replace the traditional pine nuts in pesto. Pretty much any edible nut tastes delicious—just make sure to toast and cool the nut before grinding them into the sauce.

While traditional pesto alla Genovese typically includes non-vegetarian cheeses (including Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Sardo), pesto by nature invites interpretation - feel free to substitute the traditional cheese for a vegetarian alternative.

The reason is because classic basil pesto contains pecorino and Parmigiano-Reggiano, which are both made from milk curdled in animal rennet. That means that most of the pesto sauces you see on supermarket shelves are not vegetarian.

The classic Italian pesto alla Genovese is made with basil and pine nuts, and extremely fine it is too. But the idea can be adapted to other herbs, and other nuts, as you'll see here. Nikki particularly likes the combination of basil and parsley, though you can use parsley alone.