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Pesto is a sauce originating in Genoa in the Liguria region of northern Italy and traditionally consists of crushed garlic, basil, and European pine nuts blended with olive oil, Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmesan cheese) and Fiore Sardo (cheese made from sheep’s milk). The name is the contracted past participle of the Genoese word pestâ (Italian: pestare), which means to pound, to crush, in reference to the original method of preparation, with marble mortar and wooden pestle. However, the ingredients in a traditionally made pesto are not “pounded” but “ground” with a circular motion of the pestle in the mortar. This same Latin root through Old French also gave rise to the English word pestle. 
With a marble mortar and a wooden pestle, pesto is traditionally prepared by first placing garlic and pine nuts in the mortar and reducing them to a cream. The washed and dried basil leaves are then added with coarse salt and ground to a creamy consistency. Only then is a mix of Parmigiano-Reggiano and Pecorino added. To help incorporate the cheese a little extra-virgin olive oil is added.
Once, long ago, I made a pesto sauce from a recipe in a renowned magazine and it was a disaster. After that, I found another recipe which I kept for a long time, with non-specific ratios. It stated, handful of this and handful of that, and add oil, salt & pepper and toss it with cheese.
A few weeks ago, my darling niece, Nura, asked me if I would make her pasta with pesto sauce. For ten days, I was on a mission to find a traditional recipe with ratios that made sense. I came across many wonderful, creative pesto recipes by culinary food bloggers I follow and appreciate. I also learned that all kinds of nuts (pine nuts, almonds, walnuts, pepitas, cashews, pecans, sunflower seeds, what else?) and combinations of…
Pine Nuts
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- Hazelnuts
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Almonds
(blanched)
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- Walnuts
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Pepitas
(Pumpkin Seeds)
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- Cashews
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- Pecans
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- Sunflower Seeds
… or all kinds of herbs (basil, parsley, cilantro, arugula, kale, spinach, mint, tarragon, what else?) and combinations of, are used.
Basil
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- Parsley Flat
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- Coriander
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- Arugula
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- Kale
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- Spinach
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- Mint
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- Tarragon
Other ingredients common in all recipes are garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and in many recipes, lemon juice, -and in some recipes, sun-dried tomatoes (soaked in olive oil) for accent color- are used in a variation of quantities to specific tastes.
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- Garlic
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- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
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- Salt & Pepper
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- Fresh Lemon Juice
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- Sun Dried Tomatoes(soaked in olive oil)
The recipe which most caught my attention was a Basil Pesto recipe posted by
Please Pass the Recipe. It is traditional, simple, and easy on oil usage. I made the Basil Pesto recipe exactly as instructed. It was marvelous! Getting an idea about ratio of ingredients from Please Pass the Recipe, I calibrated the recipe I had saved, which is not a traditional one, yet another variation of pesto sauce.
Pesto Pistachio
Recipe by: Fae’s Twist & Tango (fae-magazine.com)
Pistachios
INGREDIENTS
• 55 g/ 6~8 cloves garlic
• 140~170 g / 5~6 oz shelled pistachio nuts, roasted & unsalted
• ½ tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 110 g/ 4 oz flat parsley with stems (stems are used, parsley stems contain more flavor)
• 110 g/ 4 oz basil leaves (without the stems)
• 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp) primo extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 Tbsp lemon juice (best fresh squeezed, approximately 1½ ~ 2 lemons)
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil (to top with for storage)
• 150 g/ 2/3 cup ground Parmesan cheese
DIRECTIONS
◊ Thoroughly wash and dry basil and parsley. Cut stems from basil leaves and discard. Cut stems from parsley leaves and keep stems too.
◊ Make a few cuts to the parsley stems and put in food processor. Add garlic cloves, pistachio nuts, salt, pepper and process until extra finely chopped.
◊ Add parsley leaves and basil leaves in 2 to 3 batches (depending on the size of your processor) and process until finely chopped.
◊ While the processor is running, add olive oil, then lemon juice, and process until into a fine paste.
◊ I did not add Parmesan cheese at this time. Since I was going to freeze both jars, I decided to add the cheese when ready to serve and toss it with pesto and pasta.
◊ Without the Parmesan cheese, this recipe will fill two 370 g/ 13 oz jars and have enough space to pour 1½ tbsp each with vegetable oil on top. Close with air tight lid for storage. It will store for one week in the refrigerator and months in the freezer.
◊ Each jar (one-half recipe) is good for 680 g/ 1½ lb (before cooking) pasta of choice.
Both ground Parmigiano-Reggiano (Parmesan) and Pecorino cheeses are recommended for pesto sauce.
~ Buon Appetito! ~
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So, what’s cooking in your kitchen?
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OMG, this looks GOOD!!!!!
I agree with the non-specific ratios. It’s the only way I cook & it has been a challenge when sharing recipes…
Hello and Welcome Michelle! Good/seasoned home-cooks know what they are doing alright! 😀 ))) When I am making a recipe for the first time, I do need some guidance. The recipes I don’t make quite often, as years pass, I find myself wondering what ingredients and how much of it I used. 😉 Now that I have a foodie blog, when people ask me for recipes, I don’t have to think anymore, I direct them to my blog. 😀
Ahh, yes, that’s a good point. Thanks for elaborating:)
Very informative! I have made pesto before, but loved learning new things.
I love the vivid color of your pesto. I had lunch at a little restaurant in the Liguria region where they prepared our pesto pasta in front of us…it was so fresh and delicious.
Yum! Did they use mortar & pestle to make the pesto?
They did.
Informative, yum yum and beautiful.
Wonderful post about Pesto sauce Fae. I like the illustrations showing the variations to making Pesto.
Thank you for sharing this Fae, hope this can change me, the lazy bunny whom took short cut and buy bottled pesto sauce into making my own pesto sauce.
looks good. will give it a try.
This sounds so fantastic. I am making it this weekend. Thank you.
Never knew that about the stems of parsley. I always use them, including snipped over pasta. Must use that info in future posts, so thanks for that. Love the idea of pistachios in the pesto, especially as pine kernels/nuts aren’t affordable here!
Beautiful! Never used pistachio’s in pesto. Love this!!!
Beautiful. What a vivid colour your pesto! I can imagine the fragrance and full flavours from a homemade pesto. Thank you Fae for another wonderful recipe I will be sure to try out. Sharon
Brava Fae! Pistachio Pesto… will definitely have to give that a try. Your photos are gorgeous!
Your pesto pasta is a special one! I never added pistachio’s in a pesto recipe before! that must add so much real flavour: special! A must try !
Yummm!
Love homemade pesto –love the twist on using pistachio instead of pine nuts. Great post Fae!
I love pesto – yours looks delicious, well done!
Fae, Stefano will be so excited when I tell him about your post. He was born and raised in Genova so pesto is in his DNA. Great background information about the origin and the traditional recipe. Lovely pictures too.
Hummmm! I’m hungry now
Parmigiano and pistachios, could pesto get any better?
I love pesto! This looks like a great recipe!
Hi dear Fae – remember our italian housekeeper Angelina? I think you met her once in our home in kilchberg. she convinced me (and I always do the pesto like this) that original italian pesto has NO garlic in it. Funny because nobody believes that. fresh basilicum is strong enough though 😉 love, simone
Hello, hello, Simone!
–From what I read, pesto is made differently at different parts of Italy. I think garlic adds a lot, including the mouth watering aroma. I do not recall meeting Angelina. What part of Italy was she from?
–Hope all is well with you and the Boys! Thank you for the pleasant surprise. 😀
Hi dear!! Well Angelina was from the very South, called Calabria (the home of the Mafia 😉 – and you are definitely right that there are very very many ways of making green pesto – not to mention the red one which I also love very much.
Yes all is well here, J. really grown up after his military service…
So glad to have helped you out with this and very pleased that having mastered the traditional pesto you then added your own twist with a bit of tango!
Thank you so much. At the end of the day, I prefer yours, the traditional and simplicity of just basil and pine nuts! 😀
Great post! One of my Italian readers has convinced me to try the traditional method with pestle and mortar. I’m going to do a side-by-side with the food processor to find out whether or not it’s worth the extra work.
Thank you, Stefan. Wow, that is interesting. I wonder too. I’m sure we will see a post on your result.