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Process This! Pesto
It was brought to my attention (by Mike of Huntington, if I remember correctly) at WOR's Classic Taste on Monday that I didn't have a pesto recipe on this website. As if it was meant to be, the very next day I picked up Jean Anderson's Process This! and the book opened to her pesto recipe. Her recipe uses pretty much the same proportions that I do, but see "Arthur's Two Cents" at the end of the recipe for my comments.
Jean is one of the most highly regarded food writers in America (she's Sara Moulton's mentor) and she is astoundingly prolific, with more than 20 cookbooks to her credit and innumerable magazine and newspaper stories. In "Process This!" she has devised many new techniques to maximize your uses of the new generation of food processors. I had no idea there even was a new generation of processors, that the technology had been improved so much. For instance, the new Cuisinart has a new bread dough blade and setting. Jean also offers new techniques for mixing cakes, making pastry, and chopping vegetables, as well as a great collection of her always reliable recipes. I could build a party menu around just her dips and spreads.
Pesto
Makes about 1 1/4 cups, enough to dress 1 1/2 to 2 pounds of pasta
2 quarts loosely packed tender young basil leaves, washed, spun dry in a salad
spinner, and patted dry on paper toweling
1/3 cup pine nuts
2 large whole garlic cloves, peeled
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 to 1/2 cup olive oil
Place all ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor fitted with the metal chopping blade and churn 30 seconds. Scrape down the work bowl sides and churn 30 seconds longer to form a thick paste.
With the motor running, drizzle the olive oil down the feed tube, adding only enough to give the pesto the consistency of prepared mustard
Scoop into a small bowl, press plastic food wrap on top (to keep the pesto from darkening), and refrigerate until needed. Bring to room temperature and stir well before using.
Arthur's Two Cents: Jean's proportions are pretty much the same as mine, but I use more Parmigiano and only add it when I use the pesto. For storage, I think the pesto holds up better without the cheese.
And here's something few recipes tell you: If you want a creamy pesto, as it is most often served in its home territory of Liguria, in northwestern Italy, stir a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water into the pesto before tossing in the pasta. Put the pesto in your serving bowl (preferably warmed in the oven or under hot tap water) and stir in the water, then the drained pasta. If you are insecure about the amount of water to add – as I always am --scoop out some of the pasta cooking water before draining the pasta save it to add, if needed, as you toss the pasta with the pesto and cheese.
