Quick Pesto
My mother spent some years in her youth in Genua, where she learned the proper pesto alla genovese recipe, ground in a mortar and everything. It is not hard to do, nor work intensive, but mortar mainteinance is, so most days she just uses a dishwasher safe stick blender.
Her recipes is also described as "a bit of this, a bit of that", while I'd rather measure the ingredients, so that if I get it wrong I know what I have to change the next time.
I don't have a garden, but basil grows quite easily in pots on my well-exposed balcony.
This is my latest attempt at dosages; since I'm suffering from low blood pressure I don't eat garlic during the summer, so the quantities for it are missing, and will be until this autumn, when the weather will be cooler and I will be able to enjoy the latests pestos of the season the way it is meant to be :)
Recipe
This is plenty, probably a bit too much, for two dishes of spaghetti or linguine, double the doses for 5 servings.
- 30 g ligurian extra virgin olive oil
- 25 g genovese basil (about 20 leaves)
- a pinch of coarsely ground salt (maybe 1-2 g)
- 8 g pine nuts
- (some garlic)
- 10 g grated parmigiano
Blend about about half the oil, the basil and the salt until they form a paste. Add the rest of the oil, pine nuts and garlic, continue blending. Finally add the parmigiano, blend another bit.