Pesto sauce, prepared by classic recipe consists of fragrant herbs, nuts, olive oil and cheese. Traditionally, it is served in Italy to spaghetti and other pasta. But this is not the only way to use sauce.

Creative cooks cover pesto meat or fish when baking, lubricate it caked people for pizza, squeeze baked vegetables and fresh vegetables salads. In Genoa - the beautiful city, whose chefs need to thank for the fact that they came up with a recipe for such a light, fragrant, delicious sauce, - pesto add even to soups.

Classic pesto sauce is an aromatic and gentle combination of cedar nuts, basilica, parmesan, garlic and olive mala. There are such ingredients in the classic recipe. But you can cook it out of the hazelnut, almonds, walnuts, coriander, parsley. The recipe does not lose all this.

Pesto is not a dish, but rather a way to cook. The name comes from the verb "PESTARE" that translated from Italian means "rub, thrust in the mortar." That is how the sauce is preparing - the classic Italian recipe involves the use of a ceramic or wooden mortar and pestle.

If there are no mortars or just not enough time to rub the ingredients for the sauce manually, you can apply a blender. But it is important not to overdo it - the sauce should not turn into cream, it must also be distinguishable to taste, and visually pieces of nuts, cheese and spicy herbs.

This Italian recipe costs quite expensive, but the costs are fully justified - if you do not save on the ingredients for pesto sauce and do not regret the time on its preparation according to the original recipe, in the end you will get an unforgettable taste and fragrance. Pesto sauce completely opens the taste of banal spaghetti and gives a special piquancy meat, fish and vegetables.

Such products will be needed for the cooking sauce:

• cedar nuts - 3 tablespoons;
• olive oil of cold spin - 120 ml;
• basil fresh green - 1 beam or 30-40 gr.;
• garlic - 1-2 teeth depending on the size;
• parmesan - 50 gr.

This is a classic recipe. If there are no ingredients or simply do not like to taste, they can be replaced by others. Instead of olive oil, it is permissible to take the usual sunflower, but refined, without a sharp smell of sunflower seeds. Basil is perfectly replaced with a mixture of parsley and kinse. Some like to add a few leaflets of mint to the recipe.

An alternative to parmesan, which can be found only in good supermarkets or specialized stores, will be the usual solid Russian cheese. If you do not imagine sauce for spaghetti or pasta without tomatoes, you can supplement the recipe for dried tomatoes in oil. They are crushed along with herbs and garlic.

It is interesting: pesto sauce in Italy is preparing approximately the 13th century. The basis for him was garlic refueling, in which he later began to add herbs to impart a bright, juicy green color, a special aroma and taste. For a long time, the recipe held in secret. To this day, the Genuses recognize only that sauce, which is prepared by the classical recipe in accordance with all technologies. The remaining options they consider the offensive fake.

How to cook pesto sauce - step-by-step instruction

You can speed up and simplify the preparation recipe, if you fold all the components in the kitchen processor and grind them within a few minutes. But for special cases it is worth trying, do not regret the means and time, and cook sauce without disturbing the real Italian recipe.

1. Pine nuts lay out on a pan or baking sheet and drown on medium heat. The oil is not needed - the nuts are quite fat in themselves. Several times a frying pan or a baking sheet will need to shake so that the nuts do not be roasted and did not burn.
2. To break the leaflets of the basil, fold them into the mortar and grind.
3. Add garlic and nuts to greenery, rub again until the homogeneous mass of coarse consistency is obtained.
4. Continue to rub the mass, gradually pouring olive oil.
5. At the end add grated parmesan. It is more convenient to do this in two starts: first add half the amount of cheese, mix, then pour the rest of the cheese chips.

Tip: For the preparation of sauce, you can use a meat grinder - some prefer this kitchen inventory, since in a blender, if the sauce is prepared in small quantities, the greens are often not crushed to the desired consistency, stuck between the blades and sticks on the walls.

Pesto sauce can be stored in the refrigerator up to 3-4 days in tightly closed dishes. Then he loses his fragrance, changes the taste and consistency. But this universal refueling is so tasty that it usually does not have to store it for a long time - everything is eaten immediately after cooking.