{"slug":"pesto-alla-genovese","collection":"to-test","is_recipe":true,"visibility":"public","title":"Pesto alla Genovese (Basil Pesto)","description":"Ligurian basil pesto with pine nuts, garlic, Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Sardo, bound with olive oil. Weighed per 50g of basil so any harvest scales directly. Pounded in a marble mortar the traditional way, or pulsed in a food processor.","body_md":"Quantities are per **50g of basil leaves**. Weigh your basil and scale the whole recipe by `your grams ÷ 50` — e.g. 66g of leaves is ×1.32.\n\nThe basil must be **completely dry**: water dulls the colour and thins the sauce. Work quickly and at room temperature — heat and time are what turn pesto dark and bitter.\n\n## Mortar and pestle (traditional)\n\nUse a marble mortar with a wooden pestle, **20–22cm across** — an 18cm mortar is rated for only 2–3 portions and will overflow at this size.\n\n1. **Cream the garlic:** Pound 1 garlic clove with the 2g (⅔ tsp) salt until it becomes a smooth paste. The salt acts as the abrasive.\n\n2. **Add the pine nuts:** Add the 21g (2½ tbsp) pine nuts and pound them into the garlic paste until fine and creamy.\n\n3. **Work in the basil:** Add the 50g basil a handful at a time. Grind it against the walls of the mortar with a circular, rotating motion of the pestle — tear the leaves rather than chop them. Add the next handful only once the last has broken down into a green paste.\n\n4. **Add the cheeses:** Work in the 36g (⅓ cup) Parmigiano Reggiano and 21g (3 tbsp) Pecorino Sardo until evenly combined.\n\n5. **Bind with oil:** Drizzle in the 50g (3½ tbsp) olive oil a little at a time, stirring it in with the pestle until the sauce is glossy and holds together.\n\n6. **Taste:** If you want more garlic, pound the second clove with a pinch of the finished pesto on the side of the mortar and stir it through.\n\n## Food processor\n\nChill the bowl and blade in the freezer for 10–15 minutes first. Use the mini bowl if you have one — this is a small volume, and in a full-size bowl the blade throws it to the walls and misses it.\n\n1. **Grind the base:** Pulse 1–2 garlic cloves, the 2g (⅔ tsp) salt and the 21g (2½ tbsp) pine nuts until finely ground, about 8–10 pulses. Scrape down the sides. Doing this first stops the garlic surviving as chunks.\n\n2. **Chop the basil:** Add the 50g basil and 25g (about 1¾ tbsp) of the olive oil. Pulse in short 1–2 second bursts, scraping down between rounds, until finely chopped. Never run the motor continuously — the friction heats the basil.\n\n3. **Stream in the oil:** With the motor running, pour the remaining 25g (about 1¾ tbsp) olive oil through the feed tube in a thin stream, stopping as soon as it comes together.\n\n4. **Stir in the cheeses by hand:** Scrape the pesto into a bowl and stir in the 36g (⅓ cup) Parmigiano Reggiano and 21g (3 tbsp) Pecorino Sardo with a spoon. Blended cheese turns warm and gummy; for a very smooth pesto, pulse it in 2–3 times at most instead.\n\n## Serving and storage\n\n- To dress pasta, loosen the pesto with a spoonful or two of the starchy pasta water rather than more oil, off the heat. Never cook pesto — heat darkens the basil.\n- Refrigerate in a jar with a thin layer of olive oil over the surface: about 4 days.\n- Freezes well in small portions. For the best texture, freeze it **before** adding the cheeses and stir them in after thawing.\n\n## Notes\n\n- **Source and adaptation.** Quantities are GialloZafferano's gram-weighted recipe (70g basil, 4 servings) scaled ×0.714 to a 50g-basil base, cross-checked against the Consorzio del Pesto Genovese's official recipe (https://www.mangiareinliguria.it/pesto-genovese/ricetta-pesto-genovese). Method rewritten in house voice; the food-processor method adapts GialloZafferano's blender note.\n- **Why 50g is the base.** It is the Consorzio's own reference quantity, and at this size the Parmigiano (36g) matches their \"6 tablespoons\" almost exactly.\n- **How the two sources differ.** Per 50g basil the Consorzio uses roughly 2 tbsp Pecorino (~12g), 1 tbsp pine nuts (~9g) and \"half a glass\" of oil (~100ml — an estimate, the Italian *bicchiere* is not a fixed measure). This recipe carries more nuts and cheese and less oil, giving a thicker pesto. For a looser, more Ligurian sauce, add oil toward 90g.\n- **Garlic.** GialloZafferano scales to 1.4 cloves; the Consorzio lists 2 cloves in its ingredients but pounds only 1 in its method. Start with 1 and taste.\n- **Salt.** GialloZafferano gives 3g coarse sea salt as \"¼ tsp\" — a far denser salt. With Diamond Crystal (3g/tsp) the same weight is a much larger spoon; go by weight. Coarse sea salt gives the mortar better grip if you have it.\n- **Conversions.** Grated cheese at the house 113g/cup; olive oil at 14g/tbsp (3½ tbsp ≈ 55ml); pine nuts at ~8.5g/tbsp (estimate). Weigh the cheese — the volume of grated cheese varies widely with the grater.\n- **Servings are an estimate.** 50g basil makes about 175g of pesto — 3 servings over roughly 300g dry pasta at GialloZafferano's rate. The Consorzio stretches the same 50g across 600g of pasta.\n- **Cheese.** Pecorino Romano works in place of Sardo but is saltier; hold back a little of the salt if you use it. Grana Padano is the Consorzio's accepted alternative to Parmigiano.\n- **Vegetarian.** Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino are rennet-set; fine in this household.\n- **Keeping it green (optional, not traditional).** Blanch the basil for 5 seconds, shock it in ice water and dry it thoroughly before starting. It holds its colour for days, at some cost to fresh flavour.","draft":false,"servings":"3","prep_time":"25 minutes by mortar; 15 minutes by food processor","total_time":"15–25 minutes (no cooking)","times":{"prep":{"minutes":25},"total":{"minutes":15,"minutes_max":25}},"source_name":"GialloZafferano","source_url":"https://www.giallozafferano.com/recipes/Genoese-pesto-Pesto-alla-genovese.html","created_at":"2026-09-26T19:59:24.005271Z","updated_at":"2026-09-26T20:00:47.861237Z","categories":["Condiment"],"tags":["Basil","Garlic","Make-Ahead","Pasta","Quick"],"methods":["Blending","No-Cook"],"themes":["Italian","Vegetarian"],"ingredients":[{"section":"","items":["50g fresh basil leaves, washed and completely dried, stems discarded","1–2 garlic cloves, halved and germ removed","2g (⅔ tsp) Diamond Crystal kosher salt","21g (2½ tbsp) pine nuts","36g (⅓ cup) Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated","21g (3 tbsp) Pecorino Sardo, finely grated","50g (3½ tbsp) extra-virgin olive oil"],"parsed":[{"raw":"50g fresh basil leaves, washed and completely dried, stems discarded","qty":50,"unit":"g","item":"fresh basil leaves","prep":"washed and completely dried, stems discarded"},{"raw":"1–2 garlic cloves, halved and germ removed","qty":1,"qty_max":2,"item":"garlic cloves","prep":"halved and germ removed"},{"raw":"2g (⅔ tsp) Diamond Crystal kosher salt","qty":2,"unit":"g","item":"Diamond Crystal kosher salt"},{"raw":"21g (2½ tbsp) pine nuts","qty":21,"unit":"g","item":"pine nuts"},{"raw":"36g (⅓ cup) Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated","qty":36,"unit":"g","item":"Parmigiano Reggiano","prep":"finely grated"},{"raw":"21g (3 tbsp) Pecorino Sardo, finely grated","qty":21,"unit":"g","item":"Pecorino Sardo","prep":"finely grated"},{"raw":"50g (3½ tbsp) extra-virgin olive oil","qty":50,"unit":"g","item":"extra-virgin olive oil"}]}],"servings_int":3,"qc":{"status":"passed","last_checked_at":"2026-09-26T20:01:26.773512Z","checked_by":"robert@sigler.io","standard_version":"2026-09-06","findings_count":0,"stale":false,"completeness_gaps":[]}}