Pasta with pesto sauce

Pasta with pesto sauce

Ingredients for pasta with pesto sauce

Basil leaves: 55 gms
Pine nuts: 20 gms
Garlic: one or two cloves
Parmesan (two years old): 40 gms
Sardinian pecorino cheese: 10 gms
Coarse salt: a few grain
Extra virgin olive oil from the liqurian Riviera: 550gms

Direction for pasta with pesto sauce

Wash the basil leaves in plenty of cold water. Leave them to dry on a towel. You can also use a hand-operated salad spinner. During this process, pay attention not to break, crush or rub the basil leaves. You need to use a marble mortar and wooden pestle when making Genoese pesto. Once clean, crush the garlic and pine nuts in the mortar until they are creamy. Add the dry basil leaves a few at a time, and salt. Don’t beat the mixture, but use the pestle with a delicate movement, rotating it against the sides of the mortar. This movement is necessary to extract the essential oils from the veins of the basil leaves, which are therefore not broken but rubbed against the side of the mortar. Continue this movement until the sauce is homogeneous and well-mixed, and the basil is very fine. Add the parmesan and the Sardinian pecorino cheese. Slowly add the extra virgin olive oil and stir again with a wooden spoon until the cheese is mixed in.