Pesto Sauce - Recipe
From the best culinary tradition, an easy and healthy Italian pesto recipe with fresh basil for your pasta. Made with healthy and simple ingredients, this pesto sauce will become one of your favorite pasta sauces. Ideal with gnocchi and linguine.
Stats:
- Level: Easy
- Preparation time: 15 minutes
- Total time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients:
Basil Leaves (packed)
3 cupsGarlic
2 clovesParmigiano Cheese (grated)
6 tbspsExtra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 cupRomano (Pecorino) Cheese (grated)
2 tbspsPine Nuts
1 tbspSalt (coarse)
1 tsp
Cooking Directions:
Wash and dry very well the basil leaves and the garlic cloves.
Put the basil leaves, the pine nuts, the garlic and the coarse salt in a food processor and process steadily, slowly adding the oil. The sauce should have end up being slightly grainy.
Transfer the pesto sauce to a bowl and add the grated cheese, mixing with a spatula.
Add additional olive oil if the sauce is too thick.
Tips:
The original recipe suggests the use of mortar and pestle and is supposed to better maintain the basil flavors. The process, however, is much longer.
If you cannot find Romano (Pecorino) cheese, Parmigiano will work fine: just use 8 tbsps of Parmigiano cheese. We suggest not using the Parmesan, since the taste is quite different and may give you disappointing results.
For the pasta we recommend linguini or Fettuccine rigate. Just cook the pasta and pour the sauce on top of it.
A delicious variant of this Italian pesto recipe is obtained adding chunks of boiled potatoes and green beans to the sauce as described in the recipe for Fettuccine Rigate Pasta with Pesto Ricco ↪.
