Pesto served on pasta is a favorite Italian dish.
Pesto is an Italian sauce made of fresh basil leaves, fresh garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, Pecorino and Parmesan cheese and salt. The word "pesto" originates from the word "pestle" which means ground or pounded, since the ingredients were ground in a stone or marble bowl called a mortar, and pounded with a wood or stone rod, which is a pestle. Pesto, or "pesto alla genovese," originated in Genoa in the area called Liguria.
Fresh basil leaves
A mortar and pestle in which pesto is ground
Basil is a fresh aromatic herb with smooth green leaves. It is easy to grow in a Mediterranean or warm climate. Basil was eaten in Roman times. It was also eaten in India and originated in North Africa. The French version of pesto is pistou. This dish originated in Provence and uses grated cheese, basil, parsley and crushed garlic but does not include pine nuts. Pesto became popular in the United States from the 1980s onwards.
Pesto with Everything
Pesto is a popular savory sauce for spaghetti or lasagna, gnocchi, or any kind of pasta. Add it to chicken, meat or even fish. Serve it with vegetables or add to vegetable soup. Make traditional pesto without nuts, but it always include basil, garlic and olive oil.
Different kinds of pesto
Fresh basil leaves are a primary ingredient of pesto.
Sicilian pesto is sometimes called red pesto. Made with tomatoes, it uses almonds instead of pine nuts. It does not incorporate as many basil leaves as the original version from Genoa. A spicy pesto from another part of Italy, Calabria, is made with grilled red or green peppers and black pepper. Other kinds of pesto use black olives and mushrooms, as well as lemon peel and coriander leaves. Arugula leaves and mint leaves are used in other versions of pesto.
International pesto
A Peruvian version of pesto uses spinach, vegetable oil and cashew nuts, since basil and pine nuts and olive oil are expensive and not easily available. It is often served with steak and potatoes. Even Singapore has a pesto version with spicy curried noodles. Some vegetarian versions of pesto even use miso paste. You can make pesto easily at home, but it is also commercially available in many versions.
Tags: basil leaves, pine nuts, Fresh basil, kinds pesto, nuts olive, pestle which
