Let’s Make Pesto (Facciamo il pesto): a sneaky Genoese pasta dish for instant dinners... later

We were recently honoured at our little beach hut by a visit from our esteemed friends Sadie Jenkyn and Joseph (Joe) Staltari.  Apart from being kind, funny, intelligent, generous, good looking and terrific entertainment, they are both also (coincidentally) employees at iconic Melbourne mansion “Raheen” (of 'Power Without Glory' fame); Sadie being the head gardener, and Joe the head chef!

So what did we do while they visited?  Why, learn how to make pesto “properly”, of course, as well as having it served as it was designed to be in the Ligurian (or Genoese) fashion, with the traditional hand made pasta served with potatoes and beans.

See full method and photos below!

What sounds like (and is) simple peasant food reaches levels of exultation that can be appreciated by anyone, even royalty.

Where’s Liguria I hear you ask?  As Joe describes it:

‘Liguria is… OK, you know how Italy is, you know, the boot?  So Rome is at the ankley bit, Tuscany is just below the knee, and so the top of the inner thigh bit, just there, that’s Liguria, near the border with France or Monaco… “I touched her in the Liguria”.’

 

  

HOW TO DO IT

 

DOUGH STAGE ONE

 

Make the dough: two types of flour (a mix of 3 to 1: a fresh pasta and gnocchi grade 75% and semolina grade 25%, eg 225 gm to 75gm). Joe used a special Italian brand ‘Caputo’.  Fine salt, a teaspoon or two.  Mix through the flour.

 

Water: add half the weight of what the flour is in cold water – roughly 150gm or just over of water on the weight example above.

 

NO EGG – great for vegans… sorry about the impending parmesan cheese.

 

Make a well, working in the liquid, mixing by hand in the bowl into a workable lump before transferring to a floured wooden surface for kneading.  If using a chopping board, use a damp tea towel to hold in place.

 

Knead using the heel of your hand, push away, working the glutens in the flour. How’s the feel?  “So you touch it, not too soft, you want it firm.”  Add flour on the board as you work it, you will feel it getting smoother.  Ten minutes of kneading on a floured wooden surface is needed at least, and it absorbs the flour right out of the wood.

 

Let rest for half an hour for the gluten chains to form in a covered bowl.

 

PESTO

Collect the herbs.  Mostly basil; try and just use the smaller, sweeter and more subtle leaves. Parsley too, for palate and a bit of interest in the depth, as well as colour.

Wash, but dry very well before using, on a towel to dry naturally if possible (a salad spinner might help).

 

Toast the nuts; not on the stove top, but in the oven, so you don’t burn them on one side.  Five minutes or so on 180°C, just enough to make them warm to the touch and so the oils are released.  A couple of tablespoons of pine nuts, and a few walnuts as well for taste depth and texture variety. Warning; watch how many nuts you put in later, as you’ll make the pesto go too brown if you’re over-zealous.

Pestle and mortar time!  Every recipe in a book tells you to use a food processor, but the traditional pestle and mortar – even if taking longer and requiring muscle use – produces a superior texture, release of oils from the basil, gives you more control, etc. Here are the stages to add things (I think):

1. Crush garlic
2. Tear basil, crush in stages, make into gooey green pulp.  Smell that aroma!!
3. Add grated parmesan; about 100-200 gms depending on the size of your mix.
4. Start adding good quality virgin olive oil and work into the mess.  Add in small amounts, work it into the paste; it soaks it up a bit like mayo. Keep going till texture required looks right. About a half to one cup in the end, quite a lot, till it’s a slop that can’t take much more up.  Joe used ‘Joseph’ brand “first run extra virgin olive oil” from South Australia.  Later my wife asked me how much difference the oil makes, and you’d have to think “A LOT” since there are so few ingredients in pesto, it’s a raw paste, and so the quality of each ingredient has a massive sway over the final result.
5. Finally add the toasted nuts, grinding into the morass until the desired texture is achieved (don’t pulverize too much).  Not too heavy handed with the nuts; mind the colour as noted above…

 

DOUGH STAGE 2; PASTA

Make the pasta; the Trofie traditional shape.

 

From Wikipedia:

The origin of this pasta name is not certain. It is believed to come from the Ligurian verb strufuggiâ ("to rub") as a reference to its method of preparation, which consists in "rubbing" or rolling a small piece of dough on the pastry board. Similarly, the root of Ligurian strofia might be Ancient Greek στρωφαω ("to twist, to spin"), referring to the same motion required to produce trofie.

Cut a bit off the blob of dough, roll into a long piece, then cut into little buttons.  Take each milk bud and roll between your hands into something about the length and size of a bean.  Roll pasta with the edge of a pastry scraper or knife on the board to create spirals on the dough (a real art and something that takes a little practice; you’ll be getting better in 10 minutes, but little old “nonnas” in Italy can do it with their eyes shut). Put prepared noodles in a single layer on a tea towel sprinkled with flower, and pop in fridge while you wait to cook.  These cook very fast, one or two minutes.  You can pop left over/uncooked noodles in a freezer bag, and keep them for an instant dinner later (we made tonnes!).

 

 

COOKING TIME!

 

Peel and thinly slice the potatoes.

Slice the beans into three cm bits; note our chef Joe sliced the beans lengthways first, which gives cute little seeds in profile and allows the sauce take up.

Cook vegetables for five minutes in salted boiling water.

Three minutes in, cook the pasta in the same water; one to two minutes – it’s cooked when it starts to float.

Scoop out and into a hot pan with a little oil.  Toss and mix in pesto.

Plate.  Garnish with parmesan. 

Devour.

 

One of the surprising things about this dish is not only its complete deliciousness, simplicity, low cost (if you grow your own basil… and make your own cheese and olive oil!!) and vegetarian-ness, but also the beautiful silky quality the cooked potato gives.

 

Subsequently, I’ve made pesto (left in fridge in container, a little oil on top to stop it oxidizing), and then just made this dish using dried pasta for an almost instant dinner that took as long to prepare as it took to cook the pasta (I added the veggies three minutes into cooking the dried pasta, which took eight).  Then I just strained, plated and then spooned the pesto on the dished up plate, and tossed there to serve.  Squisito!!

 

I give it five stars, or (in the old Kit’s Cucina independent scale) eight tentacles out of eight!!

 

Buon appetito! (and thanks for the lesson Joe!!)