The most popular Italian pesto sauce is served with bread, pasta and as a side dish for meat dishes. Pesto variants exist in other countries as well. This versatile sauce has special features in its preparation.
"Pesto" in translation from Italian means "crushed" or "pounded". The sauce is prepared by grinding the ingredients in a blender or mortar. There are many varieties of pesto, both traditional and modern.
The province of Liguria with its capital Genoa is considered the birthplace of pesto. That is why pesto in Genoese is a classic of the genre. Fresh basil, garlic and salt (preferably coarse) are ground in a marble mortar with a wooden pestle to a creamy consistency. Pines (Italian pine nuts) are added there and rubbed too. After rubbing the air, pecorino cheese is added, previously grated on a fine grater, and olive oil, of course, Ligurian and first pressing.
There are modern pesto recipes, where ginger and mint, cilantro, olives, green olives, spinach, coriander, lemon zest, mushrooms are added to the traditional set of ingredients. For vegetarians, cheese in pesto is replaced with miso paste.
The sauce, which has become so popular all over the world, is not difficult to buy in the store. But the real pesto is worth making yourself or visiting an Italian restaurant. The fact is that the sauce on supermarket shelves is mixed using automatic machines, and pine nuts are replaced with cheaper walnuts or cashews, the quality of the oil there is lower, and the parmesan cheese is cheaper.
Pesto can be added to lasagna, pasta, ravioli, gnocchi, minestrone soup, it is served with fresh bread or crackers as an appetizer, and also to grilled meat.
