Basil Pesto
Mortar versus blender is not an aesthetic argument in pesto. A blade tears the leaves and heats the mass, so the basil oxidises and darkens within minutes, while fast whipping pushes the bitter polyphenols out of the olive oil. Grinding does the opposite: it presses the essential oils out of the leaves and keeps the sauce green.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 3 min
- Total
- 18 min
- Servings
- 4
- Level
- Easy
- Per serving
- 330 kcal
Ingredients
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What to use instead
Walnuts or almonds work in place of pine nuts. The flavour is denser and a little more tannic — add half a spoonful more oil.
Makes: about 250 ml
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
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Step 1: Toast the pine nuts
Warm them in a dry pan for 3 minutes until fragrant, shaking constantly. They go from pale to burnt in seconds, so do not walk away.
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Step 2: Start with the garlic
Pound the garlic with the salt to a paste. The salt crystals tear the cells open and dry the mass slightly, so the paste comes out even.
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Step 3: Add the basil in handfuls
Work the leaves against the side of the mortar in circles rather than hammering them. Crushed leaves release aroma; torn leaves release the grassy bitterness instead.
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Step 4: Grind in the nuts
Pound the pine nuts into a creamy mass. Their fat picks up the volatile basil oils and holds the aroma in the sauce.
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Step 5: Fold in the cheese
Stir through the Parmesan and Pecorino. Pecorino is saltier and sharper, so go carefully with any extra salt from here.
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Step 6: Add the oil
Pour in the olive oil in a thin stream, stirring from the bottom up with a spoon. Pesto should stay thick and slightly grainy, not smooth like a purée.
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Step 7: Dress the pasta
Never cook pesto. Toss it with hot pasta in a bowl along with 2–3 spoonfuls of the cooking water: the starch binds the oil and the sauce clings to every strand.
Tips & variations
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Tip
If you do use a blender, chill the bowl and the leaves, pulse in two-second bursts and add the oil last so nothing has time to warm up.
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Swap
Walnuts or almonds work in place of pine nuts. The flavour is denser and a little more tannic — add half a spoonful more oil.
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Variation
To keep pesto bright for several days, blanch the leaves for 10 seconds and plunge them into iced water; that deactivates the browning enzyme.
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Storage
Five days in the fridge under a layer of oil that seals it from the air, or frozen in ice cube trays for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 4 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 330 kcal | 1,320 kcal |
| Protein | 6 g | 24 g |
| Fat | 33 g | 132 g |
| Carbohydrates | 3 g | 12 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
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