ROUSES_MarApr2019_Magazine-R

PESTO

by Marcelle Bienvenu Pesto is a sauce that originated in Genoa, a town in Northern Italy, and the ingredients are simple — garlic, basil, pine nuts, olive oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano and sometimes Fiore Sardo, a cheese made from sheep’s milk. In Genoa, the tasty mixture is usually served with trofie, a short, twisted pasta, or trenette, a thin, flat noodle, but I find the sauce is just fine tossed with linguini or penne. You don’t need to heat the pesto before using it; just toss it with hot pasta, which works fine. You don’t need a lot of pesto, either — figure on using about a half cup of pesto per pound of pasta. Although I usually pair pesto with pasta, it’s wonderful as a dressing for tuna or chicken salad, as well as in a room-temperature pasta salad. I find it also adds flavor to rice, risotto, mashed potatoes or steamed vegetables. Try it on gnocchi for a real taste treat. Recently, I tossed boiled small red potatoes, small green peas and a few drizzles of pesto together — it was simply scrumptious. If you want to add protein for texture and richness, add a little crispy-fried pancetta or bacon. For years now, I’ve been successfully raising a goodly amount of sweet basil in containers positioned near my kitchen door, so I can grab a handful to flavor a simmering tomato-based sauce to serve

with spaghetti. However, I usually have such an abundance of sweet basil that, at some point during the year, I take the time to make a big batch of pesto sauce, which I store in small jars in the fridge for later use. When and if you have the time, try making the pesto by hand, chopping and mixing the ingredients using a marble mortar and wooden pestle. Of course, it’s so much quicker to put everything in a food processor and just pulse until it reaches a thick consistency. A friend advised me to put all the ingredients except the basil in a food processor, pulse several times, then add chopped basil and pulse once or twice, so as not to bruise the basil. And a chef friend tells me he puts a few pats of butter in the mix and sometimes uses pecans or almonds rather than pine nuts. Experimenting can be lots of fun, and pesto is simple enough to make that it’s fun to try out different flavor combinations. Oh, I must tell you that there is a French version of pesto called pistou , which includes garlic, basil and olive oil, but no nuts or cheese! Popu- lar in Provence, it probably made its way into French cuisine via Italian immigrants in the 19th century. It’s not quite as rich as pesto, but it’s a delicious and aromatic garnish for a homemade vegetable soup.

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