Basil Pesto
Raw sauce, so every ingredient shows. Keep the basil cold and bruise it rather than shredding it.
- Prep
- 15m
- Cook
- —
- Total
- 15m
- Serves
- enough for 400 g pasta
- Effort
- Easy
Scale
Units
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 1 clove | Pound to a paste with the salt 2m | Pound or pulse to a coarse paste 8m Short pulses, and stop before it purées. Friction heat dulls the basil. | Work in the oil slowly until it comes together 5m | Loosen with a little pasta water before dressing 2m Never heat pesto in a pan — it turns khaki and bitter. | |
| 1/2 tsp | |||||
| 40 g | |||||
| 60 g | |||||
| 1/2 cup | |||||
| 40 g | |||||
| 2 tbsp | |||||
-
Pound to a paste with the salt
2m- garlic 1 clove
- coarse salt 1/2 tsp
-
Pound or pulse to a coarse paste
8m- from 1 Pound to a paste with the salt
- pine nuts 40 g
- basil leaves 60 g
Short pulses, and stop before it purées. Friction heat dulls the basil.
-
Work in the oil slowly until it comes together
5m- from 2 Pound or pulse to a coarse paste
- extra virgin olive oil 1/2 cup
-
Loosen with a little pasta water before dressing
2m- from 3 Work in the oil slowly until it comes together
- Parmigiano Reggiano 40 g
- pasta cooking water 2 tbsp
Never heat pesto in a pan — it turns khaki and bitter.
Why it goes brown
Basil contains polyphenol oxidase, the same enzyme that browns a cut apple. Bruising exposes it to oxygen; heat accelerates it. A mortar crushes cells more slowly than a spinning blade, which is the real argument for it. If you use a processor, chill the bowl and pulse in bursts.
Notes
- One clove of garlic. Raw garlic grows in the jar overnight.
- Cheese last, off the blade — processed cheese goes pasty.
- Cover the surface with a film of oil to store. Exposed pesto browns in hours, sealed pesto keeps a week.