How to make pesto at home

Pesto sauce got its name from the words crush, trample. In Italian restaurants and cafes, this sauce is served everywhere. Pesto successfully combines with fish and meat dishes, side dishes and even desserts. An interesting green color looks good on a plate, it is smeared on bread toast and added to pizza. For this reason, many people are interested in pesto cooking technology, which we will talk about today.

Classic pesto

• garlic cloves - 2 pcs.
• fresh basil - 1 bunch
• pine nut - 45-50 gr.
• Parmesan - 50 gr.
• olive oil - 90 ml.
• lemon juice - 25 ml.

1. Take care of the preparation of the products. First, clean the garlic tines and pass them through the press. Wash the greens, chop. Grind cheese and combine with garlic. Add basil, immerse the ingredients in a mortar.
2. If desired, you can use a blender or food processor, but a mortar to make pesto is easy. Add olive oil, continue to crush.
3. You should get a paste of uniform consistency. Season the contents with salt, pour in the lemon juice and cool the sauce in the refrigerator.
4. Pesto combines favorably with almost all dishes or garlic croutons. If you can’t consume the whole portion at once, just freeze the sauce or send it in a glass jar to the cold.

Arugula pesto

• Parmesan cheese - 45 gr.
• fresh arugula - 0.1 kg.
• olive oil - 0.1 l.
• garlic prong - 3 pcs.
• walnut - 45 gr.

1. Free the arugula from the stems, rinse it under the tap and let it dry on towels. Finely chop the leaves, fry the walnut in a frying pan without oil in advance.
2. Peel the garlic, pass through a crush. Grind nuts into crumbs, mix with arugula and other ingredients. Pour in the butter, add the grated cheese.
3. Season with pepper and salt to your taste, then transfer to a mortar (blender, meat grinder, food processor). Get uniformity from components. Serve with crackers or croutons.

Creamy Pesto Sauce

• olive oil - 65 ml.
• fresh basil - 15-20 gr.
• pine nut - 30 gr.
• Parmesan cheese - 45 gr.
• butter - 25 gr.
• garlic teeth - 2 pcs.
• cream thick, fatty - 110 ml.

1. Wash the basil, let it dry. Cut the garlic into slices, chop the nut, grate the cheese. Immerse the ingredients in the blender bowl and scroll to size.
2. Pour salt to your taste, optionally add ground pepper (you can chili). Enter softened butter, mix again. Combine with cream and olive oil, achieve uniformity.
3. Pesto sauce is best served at room temperature. But lovers prefer to pre-cool it, and then combine it with pasta or mushroom dishes.

Mozzarella cheese pesto

• Parmesan cheese - 40 gr.
• Mozzarella cheese - 40 gr.
• fresh tomato - 90 gr.
• olive oil - 0.1 l.
• fresh basil - 50 gr.
• garlic cloves - 2 pcs.

1. Wash the tomatoes, free them from inedible parts. Chop in cubes or circles. If the peel is thick, remove it. Grate Parmesan, finely chop the mozzarella.
2. Rinse the basil, dry on towels until the moisture leaves. Free the garlic from the husk, pass through the crush. Combine all recipe ingredients except tomatoes.
3. Season the pesto with salt and ground pepper. Then beat well with a blender until smooth. Add tomatoes, serve with your favorite main dishes.

Pesto with vinegar and nuts

• table vinegar (6%) - 20 ml.
• hard cheese - 40 gr.
• soft cheese - 90 gr.
• cherry tomatoes - 6 pcs.
• basil - 20 gr.
• garlic cloves - 3 pcs.
• nuts (almonds, cedar or walnut) - 50 gr.
• olive oil - 120 ml.

1. Immerse soft cheese in a blender bowl, and hard cheese through a grater and mix with the first component. Rinse and dry the basil in advance, also add to the general bowl.
2. Pass the garlic through a press, fry the nuts in a dry skillet and send into a blender bowl. Pour in olive oil, pepper, pour salt to your taste.
3. Combine all the ingredients with vinegar. Scroll to gruel. Wash the tomatoes, dry, cut into 2 parts and combine with the pesto. Serve the sauce with pasta with mushrooms or chicken.

Cedar pesto sauce

• basil - 55 gr.
• Parmesan - 60 gr.
• pine nuts - 50 gr.
• olive oil - 125 ml.
• garlic - 3 cloves

1. Rinse the basil bunch thoroughly with running water, shake and pat it dry with a paper towel to get rid of excess moisture. Peel the garlic and chop into large pieces. Grate cheese on a fine grater.
2. Send all the available components into the blender bowl, turn the products into a homogeneous mass. If you want a more airy composition, additionally beat the homogeneous mass with a mixer. You can take the amount of ingredients to your taste.

Parmesan Pesto

• fresh tomatoes - 240 gr.
• pine nuts - 25 gr.
• basil - 30 gr.
• ricotta cheese - 75 gr.
• olive oil - 35 ml.
• Parmesan - 40 gr.
• freshly ground pepper - 3 gr.
• garlic - 2 prongs

1. To prepare a fragrant sauce with a unique taste, it does not take much time. In addition, the product will be quite low-calorie. In 100 grams of the composition will be only 145 Kcal.
2. Wash the tomatoes thoroughly. Next, chop them into small slices, send to a hot dry frying pan. Dry the vegetables a little, getting rid of excess moisture. In parallel, grate cheeses on a fine grater. Rinse the basil, peel the garlic.
3. Send all the ingredients in the recipe to the food processor. Turn on the appliance, wait for the moment when the products turn into a paste-like consistency. Ready sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 days.

Pesto salad

• Corn salad - 120 gr.
• cedar nuts - 65 gr.
• balsamic fruit vinegar - 45 ml.
• beets - 3 pcs.
• goat cheese - 210 gr.
• basil - 25 gr.
• Parmesan - 60 gr.
• garlic - 3 prongs
• olive oil - 130 ml.

1. Wash the root vegetables and send to cook until fully cooked. After this, cool the beets and chop on slices. In a blender bowl, place the washed basil, half the mass of nuts, olive oil, garlic and grated parmesan, salt.
2. Spread the chopped beets on the dish, place the goat cheese on the root crop. Add salt to taste, sprinkle with balsamic vinegar, sprinkle with the rest of pine nuts. Serve the finished sauce in a separate bowl.
3. It is recommended to serve the salad portionwise in a warm form. For a more unique taste, beets can be baked in the oven at a temperature of 190 degrees. Also, the dish is not superfluous celery and lemon juice.

Spaghetti with pesto

• filtered water - 1.4 liters.
• parsley - 40 gr.
• spaghetti - 600 gr.
• basil - 60 gr.
• Parmesan - 80 gr.
• garlic - 4 teeth
• cedar nuts - 45 gr.
• olive oil - 120 ml.

1. Send a pot of water to the stove, wait for boiling. Do not forget to salt, given the taste preferences. After the first bubbles appear, place the spaghetti in a container. Cook the pasta for 8 minutes.
2. Throw back the spaghetti after boiling in a colander, wait for the liquid to drain completely. In parallel, start preparing the sauce. Clean and prepare all components in the usual way. Send food to the food processor.
3. Get a uniform sauce. If necessary, add olive oil to the mass. The mass should drain from the scapula. Put the dish on a plate in a bowl, pouring sauce on top. Garnish with spaghetti sprigs of herbs.

Practical recommendations

1. When purchasing fresh basil, it is worth knowing that in the classic recipe for making the sauce you need to add exclusively green leaves.
2. To prepare a unique sauce for taste and aromatic qualities, the proportions need to be identified independently. Various aromatic herbs and nuts can be added to the pesto.
3. It is imperative to use premium grade olive oil when preparing the sauce. Storage of the finished pesto should be carried out in a glass sealed container.

Pesto is a true Italian sauce. In this country, it is preferably served with pasta, eaten with crackers or croutons. In order to plunge into sunny Italy for a moment and to please the guests, prepare the pesto using the chosen technology. You can add your favorite ingredients to create a unique recipe.

Video: Italian pesto sauce recipe