🌿
The dish's story
Owned by Roberto Panizza, 'the King of Pesto' and founder of the mortar-and-pestle Pesto World Championship; the pesto is hand-pounded in a marble mortar and served in the restaurant's historic Ligurian menu.
📋 La Cucina Italiana🍴 Roberto Panizza's published recipe (Il Genovese)
📋 recipe source: La Cucina Italiana - Roberto Panizza's pesto recipe & methodIngredients
- • Genovese DOP basil leaves, young, washed and dried 50 g
- • pine nuts 30 g
- • garlic (Vessalico if available) 2 cloves
- • Parmigiano Reggiano (24-month), grated 45 g (about 6 tbsp)
- • Pecorino Fiore Sardo, grated 20 g (about 2 tbsp)
- • coarse sea salt (Trapani) 1/2 tsp
- • extra virgin olive oil (Ligurian Riviera) 60-80 ml
- • trofie or trenette pasta, to serve 400 g
Method
- 1 Wash the basil gently in cold water and dry it thoroughly without bruising the leaves.
- 2 In a marble mortar, pound the garlic with a few grains of coarse salt to a cream, then add the pine nuts and pound to a paste. (Panizza's tip: you can lift out this garlic-and-pine cream and set it aside.)
- 3 Add the basil a few leaves at a time with a little more salt, working the pestle in a circular motion against the walls of the mortar until the leaves release a bright green liquid.
- 4 Return the garlic-and-pine cream, then work in the grated Parmigiano and Pecorino.
- 5 Stir in the extra virgin olive oil a little at a time until you have a smooth, creamy sauce. Never heat the pesto.
- 6 Cook the trofie or trenette al dente, loosen the pesto with a spoonful of pasta water, and toss off the heat. Serve immediately.