A quick Pesto alla Genovese

Quick Pesto alla Genovese: When Maria delivers you a pile of fresh basil from her garden here on Ponza and tells you to make pesto, that’s what you do! You make a quick pesto alla Genovese!

This recipe is for the traditional Pesto alla Genovese, the most famous pesto in Italy. Although, traditionally it is made using a pestle and mortar which gives more colour and flavour to the result. However, you could pass all the ingredients through a food processor and still achieve a very good pesto. So that’s what we did.

Quick pesto alla Genovese

• 2 medium cloves garlic,
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt,
• Just under 1/2 cup (100 ml) extra virgin olive oil,
• 2 ounces (50 grams) basil leaves, washed and dried,
• 2 ounces (50 grams) pine nuts, toasted
• 2 ounces (50 grams) Pecorino, grated.

1. Throw it all in a processor and pulse until lightly gritty.
2. Serve generously over Trofile.

This pretty jar is a gift from Gabrielle … received with much appreciation and many thanks.

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