Homemade Pesto Alla Genovese

Tonight I am going to prepare a homemade Pesto alla Genovese, so called because it is originally from Genoa, town of Liguria in Northern Italy.

After you see this recipe you will realize that there is no need to buy pesto in a jar.
This is so much tastier and is ready in no time!
The preparation takes no more than 15 minutes. By the time we boil some water and cook the spaghetti, the pesto will be ready.

It's called pesto, which is a derivative of the Italian "pestare" meaning "to pound", because the traditional Italian recipe asks for the use of a mortar to crush the ingredients.
In the case (like mine) that pastle and mortar are not readily available, you can use a blender or a food processor. The result is as good... or so I say! Well, I can tell you for sure that this pesto is so good that you will not question it!

Here are the ingredients:


If you are making spaghetti with pesto sauce, this will serve 4 people - with 12 oz of spaghetti or other pasta.

• 6 tablespoons of a good quality extra virgin olive oil
• sliced garlic clove - I used half clove, but if you like a stronger garlic taste you can use 1 or 2
• 1 tablespoon of pine nuts
• 1 oz of fresh basil
• 4 tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• salt (this will help keeping the bright green color of the basil once it's crushed!)

Suggestion: Slice the garlic clove lengthwise and remove the greenish central part - the sprout. This way, the garlic should be easier to digest and its flavor a little less strong.
Try it and let me know if you notice a difference!

Directions:

Step 1: Combine the oil, garlic and pine nuts in a food processor and pulse until chopped.

Step 2: Add the basil and salt, and pulse a little more. Don't over do it.

Step 3: Add the Parmesan cheese and mix well with a spoon. If the sauce is too dense, add a little more olive oil.

It's this simple!

Spaghetti with Pesto alla Genovese

Tip: To have fresh basil all the time for my recipes, I buy a basil plant every few months at Trader Joe's. They are quite inexpensive and great to have around the kitchen or your garden.
I should probably work on my gardening skills though, so my plants can last a little longer than two months!

Check out these photos.
My beautiful plant before preparing the sauce:

and my poor, sorry-looking plant after :)