This recipe for pesto, the traditional Ligurian sauce, specifies the importance of using local basil. Battuto is a lesser known sauce made from pine nuts.
Pasta with pesto is the most celebrated of all Ligurian foods, although it isn't recorded before the 19th-century. The classic basil sauce was previously spread on bread, and is still used as a garnish for soup. The chef at the Hotel Amici, in Varese Ligure, - an historic town in the mountains, says that it is very important to use real Genoese basil - which has small leaves and is sweeter than other types of basil. He also says that good pesto should have a smooth texture.
Pesto recipes vary in the quantities they use of the various ingredients. It's a simple recipe - but getting it right takes practice.
This is the method described by the chef of the Hotel Amici.
Pesto Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 bunches of Genoese basil
- 2 cloves of garlic-peeled
- 50 grms pine nuts
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 50 grms parmesan or pecorino cheese
- pinch of salt
Method
Gently break up the basil leaves with a wooden pestle and marble mortar (if you use a blender do it on a very low speed and don't let the blender get warm). Mix the leaves with the other dry ingredients (in a blender or bowl) and add the oil slowly until you reach a smooth, but not runny, consistency.
Cook your pasta as usual, then mix with the freshly made pesto. You can also mix pesto with freshly boiled potatoes, for a new version of the dish - good with salad, or broccoli - or use it as a dip with breadsticks or crisp vegetables.
Battuto is a pine nut sauce - and this recipe also comes from the Hotel Amici.
Battuto Recipe:
Ingredients
- 100gm crushed pine nuts
- 2 sprigs of marjoram
- 50 gm parmesan
- pinch of salt
- Extra virgin olive oil
- A little milk
Method
Blend the ingredients, just adding enough olive oil and milk to make the mixture smooth. As with pesto, you then cook the pasta as usual and mix in the fresh sauce when it's ready. It's important to use a roughly textured pasta with Battuto, so that it can collect between the ridges.
Serve either pasta pesto or pasta battuto with a fresh salad - or if you want to eat it Italian style, then have it as a filling first course with the salad to follow. In Liguria a salad would often be made using wild herbs and leaves from plants like dandelion.
Pasta in this region might also be served with a sauce of walnuts and ricotta cheese - or sometimes marscapone these days; a very filling dish.
For more information on the area read Liguria's Secret Valley
