The Art Of Pesto – Kinfolk
Classic Pesto from Kinfolk on Vimeo.
Classic Pesto
Recipe by Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks
Makes about 1 cup.
3 medium cloves of garlic
1 large bunch of basil, leaves only, washed and dried
1 small handful of raw pine nuts
Roughly 3/4 cup of Parmesan, loosely packed and freshly grated
A few tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
Special equipment: Large mezzaluna for chopping
Start chopping the garlic, along with about 1/3 of the basil leaves. Once this is loosely chopped, add more basil, chop some more, add the rest of the basil, and chop some more. (I scrape and chop, gather and chop.)
At this point the basil and garlic should be a very fine mince. Add about 1/2 of the pine nuts and chop.
Add the rest of the pine nuts and chop.
Add 1/2 of the Parmesan and chop.
Add the rest of the Parmesan and and chop.
In the end, you want a chop so fine that you can press all the ingredients into a basil “cake.” Transfer the pesto cake to a small bowl (not much bigger than the cake). Cover with a bit of olive oil — it doesn’t take much, just a few tablespoons.
You can set this aside or place it in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it. Just before serving, give the pesto a quick stir to incorporate some of the oil into the basil.
