What can I do with pesto sauce?

What can I do with pesto sauce? This was a question recently asked of The Pasta Maker regarding our traditional Pesto alla Genovese. We imagine that there are many of you wondering the same thing or looking for inspiration.

So without further ado, here are just a few simple ideas for you to make the very best of Pasta Nostra USA’s Pesto alla Genovese. First let us tell you that our pesto is made using the original Genovese recipe which means that is contains only the following ingredients:

Pasta Nostra USA Pesto alla Genovese

Fresh basil
Extra virgin olive oil
Pecorino cheese
Parmesan cheese
Garlic
Salt
Toasted pine nuts

There are many different types of pesto but real Pesto alla Genovese should only contain the ingredients listed above. That said, there are some wonderful variations on the theme using different types of nuts, herbs and oils.

1. Creamy Pesto Sauce

Combine 2 of our ready made sauces to make a rich and creamy sauce with pesto. So, it’s great for serving over gnocchi or wonderful ribbon pasta such as fettuccine or pappardelle. Equally great poured over a slice of grilled salmon.

Ingredients:

3 parts Pasta Nostra USA Creamy white wine and fresh herb sauce
1 part Pasta Nostra USA Pesto alla Genovese

We’re sure that there are many more delicious things to do with a creamy pesto sauce including pouring it chilled, over your next salad.

2. Basil Pesto and Sun Dried Tomato Quiche

We have chosen this particular recipe to demonstrate just how easy is is to add a dollop of pesto to anything and create a winner! Mini or family-sized quiche are the perfect go-to dish for any time of the day. You can prepare your basil pesto and sun dried tomato quiche ahead of time and even store it in the freezer.

3. Hummus With Pesto alla Genovese

If you love hummus and don’t have a food processor, then you need to invest in one. With this one piece of kitchen equipment the world of hummus will open before your very eyes.

Hummus is very easy to make and extremely versatile since you can add all sorts of ingredients to it that will make a recipe your own.

We perked ours up by simply adding a few spoons of pesto alla Genovese and some extra basil leaves. Beautiful! Click here for our recipe.

If you plan on making hummus with pesto alla Genovese, be sure to make a lot more extra – have you seen how much you can fit on a piece of celery!

4. Trofie with Pesto alla Genovese

Trofie is a traditional Ligurian pasta. The characteristic shape of the pasta is curled, reminiscent of the carpenter’s wood shavings. The Ligurians prefer to buy trofie in fresh pasta shops.

In Genoa, trofie are served with basil pesto born from ancient tradition. Pesto has become a symbol of Genoese and Ligurian cuisine, it is one of the best known sauces in the world. The frequent use of aromatic herbs in Ligurian gastronomy dates back to the Middle Ages, the poor used to flavor their dishes using herbs. It seems that the first recipe of pesto dates back to the first half of the nineteenth century. Some researchers have established that pesto is derived dall’aggdda (agliata), a sauce based on garlic, crushed with walnuts, which was popular in Liguria during the Genoese seafaring republic.

5. Bruschetta with Pesto alla Genovese

One of our favorite ways to serve pesto is over bruschetta. Bruschetta starts with a lightly toasted slice of French style, crusty bread. While it is still warm, it is rubbed with garlic, drizzled in olive oil and topped with basil pesto, fresh mozzarella and freshly chopped tomatoes. Finished with a dusting of salt and pepper, bruschetta are best served warm.

It won’t take long for a group of people to polish off a pile of bruschetta for brunch, lunch or supper.

We hope that we have gone some way to answering the question for you. There are plenty more ideas like adding it to mashed potato, bread dough, savory muffins, dips with sour cream, salad dressing, soups, stuffing it into meats, fish and veggies. Well, you get the idea and we hope that we have inspired you to create wonderful dishes with this wonderful ingredient. Pesto alla Genovese …

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