Easy pesto sauce recipe

Our easy pesto sauce recipe is a winner! We think you’ll find it so easy to make yourself and it tastes so much better than shop bought versions of pesto sauce. This recipe is from our very own Flavours cook Livia de Giovanni    Read on to find out her top tips for the very best pesto sauce that is the delicious combined with Trofie pasta!

PESTO SAUCE RECIPE 

• 1/2 teaspoon rock salt
• 1 garlic clove
• 30g basil leaves (sweet and young basil with very tender leaves)
• 20g of pine nuts (untoasted)
• 1 tablespoon of pecorino Sardo (grated)
• 3 tablespoons of Parmigiano Reggiano
• 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

Method

1. To make this traditional pesto from Liguria you should use a marble mortar with a wood pestle.
2. Remove any green shoots from the garlic.
3. In the mortar crush the garlic and the rock salt, to make a puree.
4. Use rock salt to obtain a traction while you are using the pestle.
5. Now remove the stems from the basil leaves and start moving the pestle in a circular motion around the inner rim of the mortar to crush, rather than pounding it in an up-and-down motion.
6. Moving the pastel in the same way, add the pine nuts.
7. Add the basil before the pine nuts, so the nuts can absorb any water released by the basil.
8. Now add the grated pecorino Sardo and the parmigiano.
9. Pound this until you have a thick paste, it has to be a bright colour.
10. In the end, using a spoon, stir in about 4 tablespoon of very good quality extra virgin olive oil.
11. Better to stir in the oil with a metal spoon because the wood pestle could affect the oil flavour.

Enjoy!

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