Pesto, a classic recipe and a pesto variant in Russian

Already in the very name of the famous Italian sauce "pesto" is laid down the definition of the way of its preparation: pestato in translation from Italian - to trample, grind, crush. To prepare it you need a mortar and pestle, better stone. Copper and wood can add to the taste and aroma of the sauce undesirable shades. If you want to get real pesto, then refuse blenders, mixers and shredders - they will never lead to the desired result.

The classic composition of the pesto sauce was defined long ago, naturally, it includes products available in Italy, but not always available for sale in Russia, in Russia.

To make this pesto sauce, you need green basil, parmesan cheese and olive oil - this is the basis. As an addition: nuts - seeds of Italian pine pine, garlic, sea salt. The exact formulation of the sauce is not - it is prepared by intuition, by the method of tests (but it is better without errors). Begin to rub basil leaves with salt, it is her large crystals that contribute to efficient grinding and sowing. Olive oil is added little by little, the ingredients are introduced gradually.

This pesto sauce, the composition of which is simple, can be cooked in five minutes and served with ordinary pasta, boiled fish or meat. Its taste and aroma will decorate any, most unpretentious dish.

If the preparation of pesto is taken not very experienced culinary expert, it is more expedient to have at hand and the exact composition of products, without analogues and substitutes, and their proportional relationship.

To make pesto, a recipe of which can be called classic, we need two bunches of green basil, 100 grams of parmesan cheese, at least half a glass of olive oil, two cloves of garlic, two tablespoons of peeled nuts.

The greens of the basil are washed and dried, put in a mortar and, adding a little salt, we begin to rub the leaves in a circular motion so that a gruel appears. Sliced garlic and whole nuts are added in small portions. At the very end, we add grated cheese and olive oil. Ready, properly cooked sauce is a homogeneous silky mass of green, rather thick consistency. It is added to soups, sandwiches are made with it. In the refrigerator, the sauce is stored for several days, but well packed, in the freezer - a month, without losing its taste qualities.

Having mastered this pesto, the recipe can be complicated and give vent to its imagination. After all, the sauce, prepared by the method of grinding ingredients, has been known since ancient times and in many countries. Even in the Italian pesto cooks sometimes add a little mint, and basil has not long since replaced the traditional parsley and coriander. In the south of France, in Provence, a similar sauce is made from a mixture of parsley, coriander and basil, different types of cheese, but do not add nuts. Red pesto is made in the south of the US by adding dried tomatoes and hot red peppers. These examples burn that pesto - sauce, prepared by the method of grinding, can consist of other ingredients. It will not be Italian, but you can call it Russian pesto. The recipe for this sauce is made up of the products available to us.

In Russia, a red basil is well known, but it has too strong a flavor. Therefore, for lack of a green basil, it is better to take 2 bunches of parsley and 1 bunch of coriander (coriander), peeled pine nuts (a quarter of a glass), about a hundred grams of cheese of one of the hard varieties, a few cloves of garlic, olive oil.

The greens of parsley and cilantro are rougher than the leaves of basil, so it is permissible for a few seconds to scroll them in a blender, and then grind in a mortar with a large salt. In the chopper, grind nuts, garlic, cheese. Mix all the ingredients, add the olive oil. "Pesto in Russian," as well as pesto, whose recipe we call classical, perfectly matches with pasta, boiled rice, meat, fish. It can be a salad dressing, a flavoring for vegetable soup, and a filling for a sandwich.