In the Netflix series, Salt Fat Acid Heat, Samin Nostrat cooks with the doyenne of Italian cooking — Lidia Caveri who coaxes viewers and Samin to try and use a mortar and pestle to create a creamy and buttery pesto redolent of its green basil color, reminiscent of the Italian flag. In her classic Italian cookbook, Anna Gosetti della Salda reminds us of the nature of the Carrara marble and the need for boxwood pestle to pound the ingredients together.
Hence, it is with the mortar and pestle first that pesto should first be tried.
Chef Nostrat’s article in the New York Times illustrates her experience in a worthwhile narrative in this method. Doing it this away to gingerly exude the flavors and fragrance from the basil is nothing short of a sublime experience.
I would also recommend using Ligurian olive oil, freshly grated Parmesan and Pecorino, and coarse salt. I got the Genovese Basil from the farmer’s market and they were fresh as can be — I got about 3 bunches and picked the baby leaves and not the fibrous older/bigger leaves.
Do not over pound, begin with the pine nuts and add the basil, then coarse salt to help break the leaves into tiny pieces.
Do use a pasta that can attract as much coating of the precious pesto. I used Bucatini, Casarecce pasta, or Orecchiette.
Lastly, a fun and livelier way of making this pesto is al fresco, or outside 🙂
The recipe below follows Chef Nostrat’s recipe with a dose of Italian notes as described in the della Salda’s recipe. I am learning Italian, so for the Italian native speakers, any helpful suggestions to tweak this translation further are welcome. Grazie!
Scenes from the Santa Cruz Farmers Market…Basil Season
Ingredients:
(Dose for seasoning about 600 grams of pasta)
36 leaves of fresh basil (notably green)
A Spoonful of Sardinian pecorino
(not too piquant)
and the same parmesan
a handful of pine nuts
garlic
salt
Italian olive oil
In the composition of the real pesto, the mortar, which must be made of marble, with the pestle made of boxwood is also important. Gently wash the basil leaves and drain well without crushing them, then put them in the mortar, add the pine nuts first (lightly roasted in the oven), a clove of garlic and a pinch of coarse salt (used to preserve the green color of the basil). Start the beating with the pestle, crushing the ingredients against the walls of the mortar (not crushing them as is commonly done), gradually adding the two types of cheese which, depending on your taste, may vary in one or the other quality. Crush until an amalgam of a nice green flag color is obtained; then pour the mixture into a bowl and, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, gradually add half a glass of oil: continue stirring until a creamy consistency is obtained.
At the time of dressing the pasta (in Ligurian use the “trenette” quality) dilute the pesto with a spoonful of the pasta cooking water. The pesto can be used for minestrone and it is best to soak it with a little broth, then add it to the minestrone a few minutes before removing the pan from the heat. The Ligurians use “pesto” for various preparations.
Italian:
Ingredienti:
(Dose per condire gr. 600 di pasta)
36 foglie di basilico fresco (verdere nota)
una cucciaiata di peccorino sardo
(non troppo picante)
e altrettianto di parmigiano
una manciata di pinoli
aglio
sale
olio d’oliva nostrale
Nella composizione del vero pesto ha importanza anche il mortaio, che deve essere di marmo, con il pestello in legno di bosso. Lavare con delicatezza le foglie di basilico e scolarle bene sensa schiacciarle, menerle poi nel mortaio, unire i pinoli fatti prima nostare in forno, uno spicchio di aglio e un pizzico di sale grosso (serve per conservare il colore verde al basilico). Iniziare la batitura con il pestello, schiacciando gli ingredienti contro le pareti del mortaio (non pestalandoli come si fa communemente), agguingendo gradatamente i due tipi di formaggio che, a seconda dei gusti, possono variare nell’una o nell’astra qualità . Pestare sino a quando si sara ottenuta un’amalgama di un bel colore verde bandiera; versare poi il composto in una ciotola e, sempre mescolando con un cucchiaio di legno, unire a poco a poco mezzo bicchiere di olio: continuare a rimescolare sino a quando si sarà ottenuta una crema. Al momento di condire la pasta (in uso ligure la qualità “trenette”) diluire il pesto con una cuchiaiata dell’acqua di cottura della pasta. Si el pesto venisse usato per il minestrone è bene duluirlo con un poco di brodo, unendolo poi al minestrone pochi minuti prima di levare il recipiente dal fuoco. I liguri usano il “pesto” per varie prepariazioni.
Salda, Anna Gosetti Della. Le Ricette Regionali Italiane. Solares, 1967, p. 127.
