Easy Homemade Pesto alla Genovese

Pesto alla Genovese is a summertime classic that anyone can prepare with the most minimal set of ingredients and tools, and which every cook should know. Most primitively, anyone with something to apply crushing pressure, something to crush, and something to hold the thing that is being crushed (like a mortar and pestle and their contents) can prepare a pesto. In fact, the name of this sauce comes from the fact that Ligurian chefs in the city of Genova used to prepare this sauce strictly with this most ancient of cooking utensils. However, now that we are in the 21^st century, having a mortar and pestle at the ready is quite rare, so this recipe will instead make use of more modern equipment: a blender or a food processor. This recipe might be the simplest I’ve ever posted, so, in all likelihood, it’ll also be the shortest.

The defining characteristic of the best pesto sauces is the freshness of the ingredients. Ideally, you should buy a fresh basil plant and have extra virgin olive oil on hand for this recipe. In addition, you will need 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic (throw it away if it's sprouting) and some kind of nut. This recipe will use walnuts, but pine is most traditional, and I've heard of recipes that use almonds.

Before the nuts can be processed, they should be roasted to maximize their flavor. Be careful: nuts go from “not done” to “done” to “overdone” in seconds. Some people roast nuts and seeds on sheet trays in the oven, but I get too scared, so, for maximum control, I roast my nuts or seeds in a dry (no oil, butter, etc.) sauté pan or frying pan over a conservative medium-low heat. This allows me to constantly move the nuts, so they don’t stick, and constantly evaluate their doneness by how they look and smell. If the nuts burn, start over.

Now, process the roasted nuts and the garlic until a rough paste forms. Add a little bit of salt now—but not as much as you want to season the final product—to take advantage of the abrasive qualities of salt’s crystalline structure. 

              Tear off the leaves and stems from your basil plant and place them in the food processor with the zest and juice of one citrus fruit (ideally a lime or lemon). This will both give the sauce some freshness (by cutting through the richness of the olive oil still to come) and stop the basil from oxidizing. Process again.

Leave the blades of the food processor running and slowly stream in olive oil until a cohesive emulsion forms and there is enough sauce in the processor.

Continue processing while sprinkling in (ideally freshly-grated) Pecorino Romano, Parmigiano Reggiano, or another hard, grated, Italian cheese.

The cardinal sin against pesto is to cook it for a long time. Basil is especially sensitive to heat in its fresh form, and applying any kind of heat to it drastically changes the flavor profile. Cook the pasta to al dente doneness, and then, together with a few tablespoons of starchy pasta cooking water, toss the (hot) pasta and the (room temperature) sauce together. Never make the sauce and let it simmer in a pan on the side, especially not as one would do for several hours in a Bolognese or Pomodoro.