At Bottura's cooking class, pesto is made – also – with bread. But there is a reason.
There are few chefs like Bottura. One who does not give up being very Italian but at the same time breaks with tradition. One who travels the world and concentrates the sum of contemporary cuisine in a dish. One who does not talk to you about ingredients, speaks to you of culture, as a unique and fundamental ingredient of our future.
To hear him speak brightens and amazes every time. This is why I could not resist the idea of doing his cooking lessons on Masterclass.
At Bottura cooking class
Masterclass is a course app and here you can find twelve video cooking lessons by Bottura, in which the chef transforms classic and regional recipes into modern dishes. Yes, the recipes are there, risotto with pumpkin, tortellini, broth, ragù … but this is not the point. Bottura through technology tells an evolution of thought, through the ingredients the territory, through the recipe the taste.
Put your heart at rest in Bottura's cooking class you won't learn the recipes. But this will be a great gift!
That's why you can put bread in pesto
Basil, extra virgin olive oil, pine nuts, a scent of garlic, Parmesan, a pinch of coarse salt.
But this is where Bottura asks us to take one more step. Open the mind to the unexpected, broaden our horizons.
So maybe the basil you have at home is not enough for you? Do you have other herbs on the balcony or in the garden? Smell, taste.
What can you use together with basil, maybe a little rosemary, no, too aggressive, maybe mint? Perfect.
And maybe the same herbs put them in the water where the pasta is cooking, you will be intoxicated.
And then the pine nuts.
Open the pantry and you don't have pine nuts. Then turn your mind, the suggestions of your palate, what can remember the taste of pine nuts?
A very simple ingredient, bread. We then use the breadcrumbs.
Then cold water, to emulsify everything in the blender and maintain the bright green color of the fresh herbs.
And now your time has come, you have the recipe written, but the truth is that you don't need it, you need to taste. Taste, taste, taste.
Missing the salt? Does it take more Parmesan? More basil? More mint. It is your taste that you have to train. Which will allow you to go beyond recipes, always maintaining the balance of flavors.
Here is the Bottura lesson. Her evolution of pesto.
And I'm ready for the next lesson: tortellini in brodo. Who knows what we can transform them …
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