Easy Pesto alla Genovese Recipe
This classic Pesto alla Genovese (Real Italian Pesto Sauce)recipe, passed down from nonna, is made with simple ingredients. I’ll show you how to make authentic pesto Genovese step by step, with tips. This vibrant, fresh sauce is perfect with pasta, as a condiment, or dip, and it comes together quickly in a blender, food processor, or by hand.
Servings: 10 servings
Calories: 31kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
- 4 Tablespoons roasted unsalted pine nuts
- 1 regular sized or 2 small garlic cloves peeled
- heaping ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 packed cups sweet Italian basil leaves picked, thick stems removed
- 1 cup fresh Italian parsley stems removed
- ½ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano grated
- ¼ cup Pecorino Romano grated
Instructions
- Toast the pine nuts: Heat a skillet over skillet over medium-high heat. Turn off the heat and add the pine nuts, swirling them around so they get a little color.
- Clean the basil and chill it: Remove the leaves from the stems and discard the stems. Any blemished leaves or any flowering leaves should be discarded. Rinse and drain the leaves. Place the basil in a bowl of ice water. Drain and pat the leaves dry on a clean towel.
- Pulse: Add the oil, garlic, pinoli and salt to the blender or food processor and pulse until combined.
- Begin to add basil: Next, add half the basil (and Italian parsley, if you're using) and pulse. Stop and add the rest of the basil and pulse until it comes together. If you over process the oil, it can become bitter.
- Add cheese: if you are serving right away, add in the cheese while you are combining the pesto with the pasta. When you make the pesto to go with it, reserve some of the starchy cooking water, as some could be added to combine the pasta with the pesto.
- Store pesto: Drizzle a layer of olive oil on top and refrigerate. It should stay bright green for up to a week (or even more) and remember, that's without adding in the cheese.
Notes
- Blend, chop or by hand: Up to you how you want to pulse it. You could use blender, food processor, mortar and pestle, or with a knife.
- Chill the blades: A tip to keep the pesto green is to chill the food processor blade or the blender blade in the freezer for about 20 minutes before using it.
- Basil: Important to use small basil leaves from the Genovese variety, they are the sweetest. You could use potted plants if you can't find them or if you don't have them in your garden.
- Parsley: A little bit of fresh Italian parsley is added in to keep it bright green.
- Olive oil: If you can find a Ligurian extra-virgin olive oil, that would be great. If not, a very good quality extra-virgin olive oil is best.
- Pine nuts: If you're pine nuts are raw, they need to be slightly toasted. Keep an eye on them while they're toasting.
- Do not over pulse: The basil (and parsley if you are using it)gets added in at the end. Be sure to not over pulse it. It just takes a few pulses to combine.
- Browning: If not using right away, cover the whole top of the pesto with a layer of olive oil before storing in the refrigerator. This keeps it from oxidizing and keeps it nice and green.
- Storage: Add the pesto to a mason jar and if you do not add the cheese before storing, it will stay fine for up to a week in the refrigerator. If you do add the cheese, store in fridge and use in a few days.
- Freezing: If you keep the pesto vegan and do not add the cheese, it will freeze nicely for 2-3 months. You could even freeze in wide-mouth mason jars, as they are freezer friendly without the cheese. Thaw overnight in the fridge before using next day.
- Ice-cube trays: If you have a large amount of pesto, go ahead and freeze in ice-cube tray. Once frozen, pop out of the tray and store in baggies dated. Pesto without the cheese will freeze for 2-3 months.
- Serving: When ready to serve with the pasta, the sauce could be loosened up by adding a little bit of the hot, starchy pasta cooking water.
Nutrition
Calories: 31kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 113mg | Potassium: 40mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 0.1g | Vitamin A: 555IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 94mg | Iron: 0.4mg