Fresh Basil Pesto
I remember my first pesto. Or, it may have just been the first pesto I remember loving...
The Eternal City ushered me into my very first travels in Europe and introduced me to this pesto.
I was twenty, studying in Rome for the first two weeks of May. Green shutters opened to the cobbled streets below, geraniums spilling out of their windows, hazy silhouettes of cypress trees visible on distant hills, ivy and moss climbing over crumbling ruins — there was so much life and color to this bustling and ancient place.
I was finishing an art history class with about a dozen other students from Colorado College. We researched and studied the art in Rome from a dark classroom at CC -- slide after slide full of flat marble columns, sculptures, and paintings.
Then we all flew to Rome, sketchbooks and pencils in hand, for further study and to present our research projects on various historical and iconic art around the city in 3D. It was as dreamy as it sounds.
We stayed in rooms the school rented in a large house in Trastevere. I slept with the bedroom windows flung open each night, the sounds of the city foreign to my ears, the fragrance from the flower garden wafting in from below.
And it was in Rome one night that I tasted this pesto — sitting at a restaurant table outside in a small neighborhood piazza with fellow students. It was just a simple bowl full of fusilli lunghi tossed in a bright green pesto. I’m sure I had some delicious wine with it but I honestly don’t remember. It was a shaping experience. These flavors were new to me but tasted like something I should have always known.
I began making my own pesto just a few years later during our first year of marriage while we were living in Munich. The memory of that pesto in Rome never left my mind and became the standard I sought after. This recipe was created after some fiddling and tweaking with the basic basil, pine nuts, garlic and cheese combo. I might be breaking a pesto law, but some rules are made to be broken. I found that adding lemon and some chilis really brightened the flavor and complemented the garlic — and preserved the brilliant green color.
It’s a pesto that anti-pesto people (can you even imagine?) exclaim over: “I don’t normally like pesto, but I LOVE this!” And it’s a recipe I’ve been meaning to write and share for years. I’d love to know what you think of it… international travel will be on hold for a while yet, so all the more reason to bring the flavors and memories of other places into your kitchen. Buon appetito!
Fresh Basil Pesto
Recipe by Stephanie Kunstle
Note: this makes just over 2 cups of pesto — enough to generously toss with 1lb. of pasta with about ½ cup or so left over. It would keep well in the refrigerator for a day or two if you want to make it in advance. Pesto also freezes well. Honestly though, this has never survived more than 24 hours at our house before being consumed.
Ingredients:
4-5 peeled garlic cloves
1 Tbsp kosher salt, divided
5 large handfuls of fresh basil leaves, rinsed
Approximately ¾ cup olive oil
½ cup pine nuts
1 fresno chili roughly chopped or ½ tsp. dried chili flakes
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1.5 cups finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 cup finely grated pecorino
Preparation:
Roughly chop the garlic and then sprinkle about half of the salt over it, and continue to mince the garlic with the salt. Add to a food processor or blender (I use a VitaMix).
Add basil, lemon zest, lemon juice, pine nuts, chili, and ¼ cup of the olive oil. Blend just enough to chop most everything up. Add the cheeses, and blend while slowly pouring in a thin stream of the remaining ½ cup of olive oil.
Add remaining ½ Tbsp salt to taste, blend well. You will want your pesto to be *just* overly salty if you’re using it on pasta.
Serve tossed with pasta (we like it on both long ribbon pastas, as well as strozzapreti -- as shown -- or any short pasta that has little nooks and crannies to hold the pesto sauce). It’s also delicious on grilled meats and fish. Or just add bread.