Today I present you with one of my favourite recipes for a “primo” (pasta dish): pesto alla genovese.
We can call “pesto” (from “pestare”, the verb used to describe the movement done to create the sauce) any sauce made by mixing together an ingredient – it may be basil, but also parsley, sundried tomatoes, olives, walnuts, pistachios, and many more – with parmesan or pecorino cheese, extravirgin oil and normally a bit of garlic.
The real “pesto alla genovese” which, like the name suggests, is originally from Genua, should be done by hand in a mortar, using basil leaves from Genua – the leaves are smaller than normal and the taste is sweet – and then the pasta is to be boiled with potatoes and green beans: once the pasta is ready, and obviously al dente, the potatoes and green beans are cooked so that the two create a sort of creamier souce.
I will be honest with you: outside Genua we are all too lazy to do that and when we make it at home for our family or friends we normally use an electic mixer and skip the green breans and potatoes part and just cook the pasta as it is.
It still tastes beautiful, provided that the ingredients are good quality: just buy a couple of basil pots and choose the best leaves, the ones that look healthy, bright green, and that actually smell like fresh basil and not like mint instead. Bear in mind this is supposed to be a “salsa fredda” (cold sauce), it is not meant to be overcooked in order to preserve the brightness of the colour, so try not to overcook the sauce but just make it warm enough to be mixed with the pasta.
Now let’s move on the the important part: the recipe.
In this exercise you have to conjugate the verbs in parenthesis in the imperative tense, the tense used to give instructions.
You can write the answers below in the box and I will correct them for you, for free 🙂
Recipe and pictures, copyright Giallo Zafferano (click) – – edited recipe for learning purposes:
Pesto alla Genovese
(Pulire) le foglie di basilico (1-2). (Iniziare) a preparare il pesto mettendo l’aglio – metà spicchio per quattro persone – nel mortaio (3)
con qualche grano di sale grosso (4). (Cominciare) a pestare (4 e 5), (aggiungere) le foglie di basilico insieme ad un pizzico di sale grosso (6).
(Schiacciare), quindi, il basilico contro le pareti del mortaio (7). (Continuare) così fino a quando dalle foglie di basilico non esce un liquido verde brillante (8); a questo punto (mettere) anche i pinoli (9) e (ricominciare) a pestare per ridurre in crema.
(Inserire) i formaggi un po’ alla volta (10), per avere una salsa cremosa, e per ultimo l’olio di oliva extravergine (11) versato a filo. (Unire) bene gli ingredienti fino ad ottenere una salsa omogenea (12). Il vostro autentico pesto alla genovese è pronto!
(Conservate) il pesto appena preparato in frigorifero, in un contenitore ermetico, per 2-3 giorni, avendo cura di ricoprire la salsa con uno strato di olio.
