Pesto alla Genovese

Pesto alla Genovese (Liguria)

This bright green condiment for pasta has an incomparably rich, refreshing aroma and flavour, but be sure to carefully choose the ingredients!! (good quality extra virgine olive oil, well aged hard cheese, and fresh basil leaves in season are the absolute must!) Then you will taste the EMORMOUS difference from those jars available at supermarkets!! you will need...

-a big bunch of fresh basil leaves separated from the stem and well rinsed, then well drained

-Extra virgin olive oil about 3/4 of amount (in grams/ozs) of the leaves.

(please experiment with the amount of below items, adding them gradually... to your personal taste...for a rough measure I use about 75g of cheese, 2 big cloves of garlic 75g of nuts to make about !/2 lt./1lb. of pesto)

-well seasoned parmigiano, pecorino cheese or grana padano cheese, freshly ground

-cloves of garlic

-mixture of pine nuts and cashew

First you whip the basil with oil in a blender/food processor to make a smooth goo, adding the oil gradually. Then add the next 3 items and mix further until everything is well blended.
It can be frozen in portions (using ice cube tray or small container), make sure you pack it well and it will freeze fairly quickly. To keep in the fridge you put it in a bottle, and cover the surface with extra olive oil, to avoid the contact with the air. It will last about 2 weeks.