Prep time: 15 min Serves: 6
Recipe by: recipesfromitaly.com
Genovese pesto is the traditional pesto made in Northern Italy. While the nature of pesto is improvisational, these ingredients are for an authentic genovese pesto. That being said, I’ll add suggestions for substitutions as some of these ingredients are not the easiest to find and are sometimes not the cheapest! You can still make amazing pesto if you substitute some of these ingredients!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups packed basil leaves
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¾ cup parmigiano reggiano or grana padano (you can easily get away with just using a little over ¾ cup of any fresh parmesan and not using pecorino, just add a little more salt!)
- 2 TBSP pecorino romano cheese
- 2 peeled garlic cloves
- 1 TBSP pine nuts (you can substitute walnuts as they’re much cheaper or pepitas if you have a tree nut allergy)
- Pinch of sea salt
1. Wash the basil leaves and then make sure to dry them very well on a paper towel or kitchen towel.
2. In a food processor, combine the basil leaves, grated cheese, garlic and nuts/seeds. Pulse the food processor until you get a thick green sauce.
3. Using the processor at the lowest speed, slowly add the extra virgin olive oil. Blend until smooth, but try not to blend so long as to heat up the pesto as this will mess with the texture/flavor.
4. If the pesto is too thick, add 1-2 TBSP of cold water. Enjoy!