Delicious pasta dish with pesto. /
TODAY’S RECIPE
A classic of Italian cuisine that is to lick your fingers
The word pesto has its origin in the Genoese. Pestare means to pound in a mortar, so any sauce made by pounding its ingredients in a mortar can be considered pesto.
The pesto sauce that we all know has its origin in Genoa. They say that its origin is a sauce, the agliata, which was used by fishermen in the area to preserve food and that it was made up of garlic, olive oil, tomato and vinegar. Later, one of the main ingredients of the pesto sauce, basil, was added as it is an abundant aromatic plant in the northeast of Italy, in the Liguria area.
The best known recipe is the one that contains olive oil, garlic, cheese, pine nuts and basil. It is often believed that the recipe includes Parmesan cheese, but they say that the authentic Genoese pesto recipe uses pecorino cheese.
As Genoa was one of the most important ports in the Mediterranean and there was a constant movement of travelers, ships and sailors, the recipe quickly spread throughout Italy, incorporating some regional ingredients in each area. An example of this is the Trapanese pesto, original from the port of Trapani in Sicily, whose main ingredients are olive oil, garlic, tomato, almonds and basil.
For this recipe we will use garlic, olive oil, basil, walnuts, spinach, lemon juice, black pepper and salt.
Ingredients for the pasta
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350g whole wheat pasta
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4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
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250 grams of fresh mushrooms
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30 g grated Parmesan cheese
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salt to taste
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1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (1 g)
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basil to taste
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Parsley (optional for topping)
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1 clove garlic
Ingredients for the pesto
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6 walnuts (36 g shelled)
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60g spinach
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1 tablespoon of basil (2 g)
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65 g of grated Parmesan cheese. Any grated cheese for pasta from any supermarket would do.
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½ glass of extra virgin olive oil (55 g of olive oil)
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1 clove garlic
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½ lemon (to extract the juice)
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salt to taste
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½ teaspoon ground black pepper (1 g)
Preparation
one
Cook pasta. To calculate the cooking time, follow the instructions on the package. Reserve.
two
Laminate the mushrooms and sauté them in a pan with olive oil.
3
When the mushrooms are golden, in about 6-8 minutes, add the previously cooked pasta, Parmesan cheese, salt, black pepper and basil. Stir everything and cook over low heat for 5 minutes.
4
Toast the walnuts in a small skillet over low heat. Here you do not have to use oil or butter. With this we managed to get the aromas out of the nuts.
5
When you finish with the nuts, mix them with all the pesto ingredients (spinach, basil, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, garlic, lemon, salt, black pepper).
6
Beat everything in a food processor (blender, thermomix, etc.).
7
Serve the pasta and pesto on a plate.
8
Taste.
Grades
-It is recommended to make the pesto in a mortar. If done in a food processor, blend little by little and not all at once. If we do it all at once, we run the risk of making the basil bitter because it overheats with the blades.
-The pesto, once made, is served raw, that is, it is not passed through the pan, it is not put in the pot with the pasta or anything like that.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.