Name: Pasta with Basil Genuese Pesto Sauce
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: Basil: 25 g in leaves; Extra Virgin Olive Oil: 50 ml; Parmesan cheese: 35 g; Pecorino Cheese: 15 g; Pine Nuts: 8 g; Garlic: 1/2 slice; Salt: 1 pinch; Pasta: 160 g

Features:

Cuisine:

Italian

20
Serves 2
Easy

Ingredients

25 g in leaves Basil
50 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
35 g Parmesan cheese
15 g Pecorino Cheese
8 g Pine Nuts
1/2 slice Garlic
1 pinch Salt
160 g Pasta

Directions

Speaking of pesto comes to mind immediately Liguria in Italy: it is in this beautiful region in fact that, with careful care, this sauce is born that is even said to be aphrodisiac.
Pesto is a cold sauce, synonymous and symbol of Genoa and the whole of Liguria, which for some decades has been one of the most known and widespread sauces in the world.
The first traces of pesto can be found in the 1800s and since then the recipe has always remained the same, at least in the home preparation. To make the real Genoese pesto you need a marble mortar and a wooden pestle and … a lot of patience.
Like any traditional recipe, each family has its own recipe for Genoese pesto, the one we suggest in this recipe is that of the Genoese pesto Consortium.

Steps

1 Done	To prepare the Genoese pesto it is first necessary to specify that the basil leaves are not washed, but cleaned with a soft cloth; in addition you must make sure that it is Ligurian or Genovese basil, with narrow leaves (and not the thick-leaved southern one, which often has a mint flavor).
2 Done	Start preparing the pesto by placing the peeled garlic in the mortar together with a few salt grains. Begin to crush and, when the garlic is reduced to cream, add the basil leaves together with a pinch of salt grains, which will serve to better break the fibers and keep a nice bright green color. Then crush the basil against the mortar walls by rotating the pestle from left to right and at the same time rotate the mortar in the opposite direction (from right to left), taking it by the "ears", or the 4 rounded protrusions that characterize the mortar itself. Continue like this until a bright green liquid comes out from the basil leaves.
3 Done	At this point add the pine nuts and start crushing again to reduce to cream.
4 Done	Add the cheeses a little at a time, stirring constantly, to make the sauce even more creamy, and lastly drizzle in the extra virgin olive oil, always mixing with the pestle. Mix the ingredients well until a smooth sauce is obtained. Your authentic Genoese pesto is ready to be used!
5 Done	Choose your favorite pasta and cook it in boiling salted water. Dilute the pesto with a cooking water spoon to make it more creamy, then drain the pasta and season with the pesto, completing as you like with whole basil leaves and freshly grated cheese.

To obtain an excellent Genoese pesto, the basil leaves must be necessarily dry, and must not be wrinkled in any way, since the rupture of the vesicles containing the essential oils placed on the upper part of the leaves, would cause oxidation of the color and the aromas, making the dark green pesto with a herbaceous aroma. For the preparation of Genoese pesto, use sweet and ripe oil because the latter, in addition to acting as a solvent for the aromatic substances, ensures the perfect amalgam, enhancing the aroma of basil and attenuating the spicy of garlic.