Recipe

Pesto alla Genovese (mortar & pestle)

Enough for 500 g pasta — 4 servings · prep 15 min · cook 0 min

→ Open in cook mode

• lunch
• dinner
• italian
• vegetarian
• raw

Authored by the maintainer; standard Ligurian method.

Ingredients

the green base

• 60 g young basil leaves (no stems) — Genovese basil
• 30 g pine nuts (Italian stone pine if you can find them)
• 1 small clove garlic, peeled — Tropea allium farm
• Pinch coarse sea salt (for the mortar) — Trapani salt pans

the cheeses

• 30 g Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated — Emilia Parmigiano dairy
• 20 g Pecorino Sardo, finely grated

to finish

• 80 ml extra-virgin olive oil — Liguria olive mill

Method

1. Crush the garlic clove with a pinch of coarse salt in the mortar until you have a smooth paste. About 30 seconds.
2. Add the pine nuts. Work them in until creamy.
3. Add the basil leaves a small handful at a time. Press and rotate the pestle against the wall of the mortar — never pound. The leaves should bruise and release their oil, not shatter. · 8 min
4. Work in the two grated cheeses until evenly distributed.
5. Stream in the olive oil while continuing to mix with the pestle. The pesto should be glossy and just-pourable — add a splash more oil if it's too thick.
6. Taste. Adjust salt. Use immediately, or press cling film flat onto the surface to keep it green.

Notes

Food-processor variant: pulse pine nuts + garlic + salt to a paste,
add basil + cheeses, pulse just until combined (no more than 10 seconds
total — the metal blade heats the leaves and turns them khaki). Stream
in oil at the end with the motor off, folding by hand. The traditional
mortar version is greener and more aromatic; the food-processor version
is fine on a Wednesday.

Hold-over: covered with oil on top, 2 days refrigerated. Freezes well
in ice-cube trays *without* the cheeses — stir cheeses in after thawing.