Cooking Tips

Presto Pesto!

For years the name pesto meant a green paste made from fresh basil, pine nuts, garlic, parmesan cheese and olive oil. The thought of red pesto or black pesto was absurd. Well, things have changed.

There are and were variations in the "classic" pesto. In Genoa where it originated and other towns in Italy where it is prepared, there are no two towns that make it exactly the same way. Nowadays, there is also a wide variety of "designer pestos" or herb pastes that are being made by combining different herbs and fresh greens with oils, nuts and olives.

The name pesto derives from the pestle, which was used to grind the ingredients to a paste in a mortar. These days the food processor and blender have pretty much replaced the mortar and pestle in all but the most orthodox kitchens. Pesto made with a mortar and pestle has a more silky, chunky texture that can't be duplicated in a machine. But — accepting reality — most of us will use a machine simply to save time.

4 Tbsp pine nuts
2 cups basil leaves
pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
4 Tbsp grated pecorino cheese
7 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Toast the nuts in a small, heavy skillet over medium heat until they are golden. Stirring frequently, the whole process takes 3 to 4 minutes.

Place the basil in a heavy-duty, quart-size, zip-lock storage bag and pound the herbs with a meat pounder or hammer until they are bruised.

Place remaining ingredients, except cheese, in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides. Transfer this mixture to a bowl and stir in the cheese and add salt to taste.

If you're not serving it immediately or have some pesto left over, put it in a class container and pour a thin layer of olive oil over the top to keep it from oxidizing. You can refrigerate it for up to a week.

Now that you've mastered traditional pesto, try one of the following combinations:

• Basil Mint Pesto: replace 1/2 the basil with the same amount of mint.
• Arugula Pesto: replace basil with 1 cup packed fresh arugula leaves and 1 cup packed parsley. Reduce Parmesan to 2 tablespoons and add 1/3 cup ricotta cheese.
• Creamy Basil Pesto: Add 3 tablespoon ricotta cheese and substitute walnuts for the pine nuts.
• Pistachio Pesto: Substitute 1/3 cup shelled, unsalted pistachio nuts for the pine nuts.
• Mediterranean Pesto: In place of basil, substitute 2 Tbsp fresh rosemary, 1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves, 1 Tbsp fresh summer savory leaves, 1 Tbsp fresh oregano leaves, and 1 cup fresh parsley leaves. Substitute 1/2 cup walnuts in place of the pine nuts.

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