Pesto is considered one of the oldest sauces in the world and is an integral part of Italian cuisine. Its base is green fragrant basil and top-quality olive oil, as well as garlic and pine nuts, which give the sauce a unique taste. It’s quite easy to recreate the classic Pesto recipe with your own hands, most importantly, no combines and other equipment, just a mortar and pestle.

Pesto sauce - historical information

Pesto sauce is a famous Italian sauce where basil is the main ingredient. By all traditions, it is cooked in a marble mortar, in which the ingredients are ground with a wooden pesto, hence its name.

If we talk about the history of the invention of "Pesto", then there are different beliefs:

  • Some argue that the sauce appeared thanks to the inhabitants of the Ligurian coast, where basil grew in large quantities.
  • Others insist that the sauce was invented by chance. Initially, it was used for medical purposes. Peasants prepared a remedy for eczema from the plant for sailors. And once, one of the peasants dropped a mixture of basil on a piece of bread. And from that moment on, the sauce appeared on the tables of Italians who ate it on special cakes - focaccia.

Today in Italy, sauce is served not only in cafes and restaurants, but it is also mandatory to include it in the wedding menu, because residents of sunny Italy believe that Pesto is a symbol of a generous table and a good sign for a young family.

In different countries, analogues of Italian sauce appeared.So, in Austria they prepare “Pesto” from pumpkin seeds, in Germany you can try wild garlic sauce, and in France they make a similar spicy mixture, but without the addition of nuts.

Classic Pesto Sauce Recipe with Basil

The classic Pesto sauce is prepared without any electrical appliances, only a mortar and pestle. Well, grater - without it in any way.

Ingredients:

  • 110 g of Parmesan;
  • a bunch of basil;
  • three garlic cloves;
  • 35 g pine nuts;
  • 110 ml of olive oil.

Cooking method:

  1. In a mortar we put only basil leaves, sprinkle with salt (large), you can use sea. Rub the plant to a mushy state.
  2. Now we put the cloves of another spice and nuts, also push the pestle together.
  3. Three Parmesan on a fine grater. For Pesto, only Parmesan and no other cheese is used. Send it to a mortar and grind with other ingredients.
  4. Pour olive oil, mix, transfer “Pesto” into a saucepan, decorate with basil leaves and nuts.

What to eat with Pesto sauce

Italian chefs use "Pesto" in the preparation of a variety of dishes. The most famous of them are pizza, where tomato paste is replaced with a spicy composition, as well as spaghetti, to which the sauce is served separately.

Very often sauce is offered with first courses. It is ideally suited to the Italian national dish - minestrone soup, as well as seafood stews and mashed soups. On the basis of Pesto, you can make an excellent marinade for fish, meat and poultry or make a dressing for cold snacks.

Pesto is used for baking vegetables and steaks, it can be put in an omelet or just baked with a piece of bread in the oven. The sauce is placed in a dough for baking, bread and the basis for pasta. It can also be served as an independent dish, for example, to cold meat, with bread sticks or with vegetables.

Having figured out what to eat with Pesto sauce, it's time to include it in your own menu!

Pasta with Pesto Sauce

Pesto pasta is one of the traditional dishes in Italy. Recall that pasta is pasta, so for the recipe you can use spaghetti, products in the form of spirals, horns, etc.

Ingredients:

  • 420 g spaghetti;
  • "Parmesan";
  • pesto".

Cooking method:

  1. Pour a large amount of water into the pan, add a little salt and boil the spaghetti until half ready, that is, to the state of al dente.
  2. Transfer the prepared pasta to a dish, put the sauce, mix, sprinkle with grated Parmesan, decorate with basil leaves and serve.

Pesto pasta is served immediately, that is, the dish should not cool, so it is better to prepare the sauce in advance.

How to use sauce in making pizza?

With Pesto sauce you can cook another Italian dish known all over the world - pizza.

Ingredients:

  • pizza yeast dough;
  • ball of "Mozzarella";
  • large tomato;
  • dried oregano;
  • pesto".

Cooking method:

  1. We take the dough and try to roll it as thin as possible.
  2. Spread the base with a thin layer of sauce, spread the Mozzarella cut into thin slices on top.
  3. Then we spread the tomato, sliced ​​thinly, sprinkle all oregano and bake pizza for 20 minutes (temperature - 200 ° C).

Pesto bread with basil

Try baking Italian bread. The pastries are tasty and have an original color.

Ingredients:

  • 365 g flour;
  • 230 ml of mineral water;
  • one egg;
  • a spoonful of sugar;
  • 1.5 teaspoons of active yeast.

Cooking method:

  1. The first step is to make the sauce. To do this, take two bunches of basil, five prongs of spicy vegetable, 50 ml of oil and a little salt. Grind the ingredients in a mortar or, if you want to speed up the process, just grind everything in a blender.
  2. Now, based on mineral water, we knead the yeast dough, give it time to stand, and as soon as the base increases in volume, we roll it into a layer.
  3. Lubricate the layer with sauce and turn the blank roll. We interlace its ends with a tourniquet, making several cuts.
  4. Bake Italian bread for 40 minutes (temperature - 190 ° C).

Traditional italian minestrone soup

Vegetable Italian minestrone soup is also cooked with green sauce.

Ingredients:

  • bulb;
  • a pair of celery stalks;
  • two small carrots;
  • three potatoes;
  • one zucchini and sweet pepper;
  • beans (better than canned food);
  • three tomatoes;
  • a handful of green peas;
  • 40 g pasta;
  • a couple of spoons of Pesto sauce.

Cooking method:

  1. For minestrone, it is important to cut all the ingredients in equal pieces, except for beans and peas.
  2. Pour olive oil into the stewpan and fry the onions, carrots and celery. After a few minutes, add potatoes, peppers and tomatoes. Stew all 20 minutes.
  3. Then add beans, green peas, and a little later pasta and spices. Pour in the broth (water). Its quantity depends on how thick you want to cook the soup, but the traditional minestrone should be quite dense.
  4. A few minutes before the readiness we put Pesto, wait a little more and turn off the fire.

With seafood

If you want to surprise your loved ones with an original Italian salad, write down the following recipe. For a dish, you can take a mix of seafood or collect your own cocktail from your favorite marine reptiles.

Ingredients:

  • several fruits of cherry;
  • Bell pepper;
  • asparagus;
  • Pesto sauce, any spices.

Cooking method:

  1. Fry seafood in olive oil until golden. If you use mussels and octopuses for salad, then it is better to boil them slightly.
  2. Pass the asparagus through boiling water and chop.
  3. Cherry and pepper cut randomly.
  4. Now you just have to combine everything, sprinkle with any spices that are suitable for seafood dishes, and season with Pesto sauce. By the way, you can also make delicious pasta from Italian sauce and seafood.

Caprese Salad with Pesto Sauce

Another Italian dish served with Pesto sauce is the Caprese salad. It is very simple, but very tasty.

Ingredients:

  • 260 g soft "Mozzarella";
  • three large tomatoes;
  • pesto".

It is better to cook such a salad in the vegetable season, since snacks need tasty tomatoes, not tomatoes with a taste of grass.

Cooking method:

  1. So, we cut “Mozzarella” and tomatoes into thin slices.
  2. We spread the ingredients on the dish alternately.
  3. Distribute the sauce on top and decorate the salad with basil leaves.

Thanks to its piquant taste and aroma, Pesto sauce has conquered millions of people around the world. And it will certainly win your attention, because it is really unique!

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