My friend, Horacio makes one of the most delicious pestos on earth, that you can’t find it in any restaurant. I guess it’s an old family recipe. We usually have pesto with gnocchi, ravioli, and any other forms of pasta; and even you can have it with pita bread and enjoy it with a good wine.
Pesto is one of those things that you shouldn’t buy from a supermarket. It should be fresh and hand-made. The ones that you see in grocery stores or supermarkets are made by machines and they’re like a homogenous paste! Also pine nuts are expensive, so they often replace it with other nuts such as walnuts; and the basil they use, it’s not that fresh baby leaf!
Ingredients:
fresh basil leaves (young leaves are much better)
pine nuts
cloves garlic
salt
olive oil
grated Parmesan and grated pecorino cheese
A huge mistake in making pesto is using a food processor! It just destroys the essence of a perfect pesto. You have to chop basils, pine nuts and garlic with a very sharp blade. If it’s not sharp, the basils would be darkened soon!
After you finished and enjoyed chopping, transfer it to a bowl and add olive oil. Soon you will find out how much oil is optimal: pesto shouldn’t be dry and it shouldn’t be too much oily. In the meantime add cheese and mix it, and add oil again…and now, it’s time to enjoy one of the best tastes on earth!