The bright green sauce originated in Genoa, Italy, and today is used in countless ways in recipes.
Learn how to make pesto, its history, and ways to use it.
What Is Pesto?
Credit:Fred Hardy II; Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf; Prop Stylist: Julia Bayliss
All of the ingredients were combined and blended with olive oil to form a paste.
Pesto originated in Genoa, Italy, in the 16th century.
It was traditionally made using a mortar and pestle.
Credit:Fred Hardy II; Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf; Prop Stylist: Julia Bayliss
Once these ingredients have come together, slowly add the olive oil while the machine is running.
Season with salt, adding more olive oil if the mixture seems too thick.
Use it as asauce for pastaor a base for your pizzas or crostinis.
Credit:Caitlin Bensel; Food Stylist: Torie Cox
Try it dolloped on chicken or beef, or to brighten up a plate ofroasted vegetables.
Drizzle a little pesto onto your bowl of soup to add pizzazz.
Its also great as a dip for bread, a nice alternative to butter or olive oil.
Because pesto lends itself well to substitutions, it is a wonderfully versatile sauce.
Dont have basil on hand?
Put those carrot top stems to good use.
This peppery green is a great replacement for basil.
Flat-leaf parsley can also be used in place of basil.
As mentioned, pine nuts, which are often rather expensive, arent mandatory either.
Use a more affordable nut alternative like walnuts or skip the nuts altogether and make theFrench version, pistou.
Parmesan cheese may be the classic standby but its certainly not the only option.
