Pesto

Copyright 2011 Christine's Pantry. All rights reserved.

Pesto is a sauce originating in Genoa in the Liguria region of northern Italy, and traditionally consists of crushed garlic, basil and nuts blended with olive oil and cheese. The name is the contracted past participle of the Genoese word pesta, which means to pound, to crush, in reference to the original method of preparation, with marble mortar and wooden pestle. Nowadays, however, the ingredients in pesto are not "pounded" but "ground" with a circular motion of the pestle in the mortar. This same Latin root through Old French also gave rise to the English word pestle.

The ancient Romans ate a cheese spread called moretum, which may sometimes have been made with basil. The herb likely originated in North Africa, however, it was first domesticated in India. Basil took the firmest root in the regions of Liguria, Italy and Provence, France. The Ligurians around Genoa took the dish and adapted it, using a combination of basil, crushed garlic, grated hard cheese (a mix of parmigiano-reggiano and pecorino or just one of the two), and pine nuts with a little olive oil to form pesto. In French Provence, the dish evolved into the modern pistou, a combination of basil, parsley, crushed garlic, and grated cheese (optional). However, pine nuts are not included.

In 1944, The New York Times mentioned an imported canned pesto paste. In 1946, Sunset magazine published a pesto recipe by Angelo Pellegrini. Pesto did not become popular in North America until the 1980s and 1990s.

By http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesto

Pesto

Copyright 2011 Christine's Pantry. All rights reserved.

Ingredients:

2 cups parsley

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

pinch salt and pepper

1/2 cup olive oil

Directions:

In a blender, add garlic, pine nuts, walnuts, parsley, salt and pepper, and blend until finely chopped. Add olive oil, and blend until mixture becomes creamy. Enjoy!