A handmade pesto sauce recipe
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But since this website is about "easy" pasta recipes, I will mention the easy way as well. Just use the ingredients listed below, put into a food processor and blend for about 30 seconds or longer, until relatively smooth.
Well, if you really want to, there are even easier ways... You can buy ready-made pesto sauce in a bottle. Recently, I even found one in a tube, like a toothpaste. It looked authentic enough, with Italian words and all, but didn't taste too good.
That's the trouble. With ready-made pesto sauce, it is either not too good, or costly. In any case, this pesto recipe is not all that difficult...
The slightly difficult part might be getting the right equipment. You will need a pestle and mortar to grind the ingredients.
Better still, get the Japanese version, called a suribachi and surigochi. A suribachi is a mortar bowl with rough ridges on the inside to act like a greater. The surigochi is a wooden pestle.
Anyway, if you don't have these, just use a food processor.
Pesto sauce recipe
Ingredients (serves 4 to 6)
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- pepper, to taste
- 1/2 cup oilve oil
Easy pesto sauce recipe
- Lightly toast the pine nuts in a dry pan, over low heat, until golden brown. You need to watchful and make sure the heat is low, as pine nuts burn easily. Leave to cool.
- Place pine nuts and other dry ingredients into a food processor and blend for about 20 to 30 seconds, until fine.
- With the processor blade still running, slowly add olive oil in a thin stream, until a paste is formed.
Handmade pesto sauce recipe
- Lihgtly toast the pine nuts, as above, and allow to cool.
- In a suribachi, crush the garlic and sea salt. Add pine nut and basil leaves and continue to grind. Mix in the grated cheese and pepper to taste. Finally, add the olive oil a little at a time.
You will probably need to hand grind for about 15 to 20 minutes, and the mixture will not be as smooth or as even as what you will get if you use a food processor. I would prepare this pesto sauce recipe the easy way using a food processor, especially if I am in a hurry or feeling tired. But if I am in a relaxed mood, the habdmade way does give a certain sense of satisfaction.
Variations
CILANTRO / CORIANDER: The above is a classic pesto sauce using pine nuts, basil, garlic, olive oil and salt. A popular variation is a cilantro pesto sauce recipe, made with cilantro or coriander leaves instead of basil. This is variation is particularly useful in Asia, where coriander / cilantro is a lot more widely available.
WALNUT: Yet another variation uses walnut instead of pine nuts. In theory, all types of nuts can be used as variations. But to be practical, you need relatively soft and oily nuts like pine or walnut.
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