sábado, 1 de marzo de 2008

Pesto


I promised this recipe. So here it goes...


ITALIAN PESTO


Ingredients:
1 large bunch of basil, leaves only, washed and dried
3 medium cloves of garlic (if you not crazy about garlic, use just 1)
one small handful of raw pine nuts (I did not have pine and used almond, it was good as well!)
roughly 3/4 cup Parmesan, loosely packed and FRESHLY GRATED (mine was store bought Italian grated cheese for Pasta)
A few tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil.

Instructions:
Start chopping the garlic along with about 1/3 of the basil leaves. Once this is loosely chopped add more basil, chop some more, add the rest of the basil, chop some more. I scrape and chop, gather and chop. At this point the basil and garlic should be a very fine mince. Add about half the pine nuts, chop. Add the rest of the pine nuts, chop. Add half of the Parmesan, chop. Add the rest of the Parmesan, and chop. In the end you want a chop so fine that you can press all the ingredients into a basil "cake" - see the photo up above. Transfer the pesto "cake" to a small bowl (not much bigger than the cake). Cover with a bit of olive oil, it doesn't take much, just a few tablespoons.
You can set this aside or place it in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it. Just before serving give the pesto a quick stir to incorporate some of the oil into the basil. She occasionally thins the pesto with a splash of pasta water for more coverage, but for our gnocchi this wasn't necessary.


Makes about 1 cup.

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