Tag: pesto

That's why Bottura makes you put bread in pesto – Italian Cuisine

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 …

Sicilian pesto: recipe and variations – Italian Cuisine

The flavors of the Mediterranean and of Sicily enclosed in an irresistible condiment. Here's how to prepare Sicilian pesto in different versions

Not just Genoese. The Sicilian pesto is an equally valid alternative to the classic Ligurian pesto. The colors change and the flavors change, which immediately take us back to southern Italy: all thanks to the tomatoes, protagonists of the recipe together with almonds and to the ricotta cheese, which makes it even more enveloping and creamy. A Red pesto to prepare in just a few minutes to dress pasta, but also bruschetta and croutons.

Like most of the regional recipes, even Sicilian pesto is prepared in many different ways depending on the city, family or ingredients available. Let's try then one basic version and then we explore other possibilities: first of all, to do it more easily we use a mixer, but with a little patience you can also prepare it with pestle and mortar, obtaining a coarser result.

Sicilian pesto: the easy recipe

Ingredients

500 gr copper tomatoes
150 gr ricotta
140 g extra virgin olive oil
100 gr Parmigiano Reggiano
50 gr peeled almonds
1 bunch of basil
1 clove of garlic
salt
pepper

Method

toast almonds in a pan for 2-3 minutes over medium-low heat, so that they release their best aroma. To avoid burning them and make sure that toasting takes place on both sides, keep stirring.

Engrave i tomatoes at the top, creating a cross. Blanch them for a few moments in boiling water and let them cool: in this way you will be able to easily remove the peel, who will be away immediately.

Cut the tomatoes into small pieces and place them in the mixer together with the basil, at toasted almonds and allo clove of garlic, which you will already have private soul. Start a whisk, then add the parmesan, the ricotta cheese, theoil extra virgin olive oil and continue to blend until obtaining a homogeneous compound, adjusting salt and pepper to taste.

Sicilian pesto: variations

Starting from this base, you can change the recipe depending on your preferences. Let's see some small variations of Sicilian pesto, widespread in the various areas of the region.

First of all, almonds can be substituted partially or completely with Pine nuts or even with a part of pistachios. Depending on the taste, you can also use pecorino instead of parmesan.

Some versions of Sicilian pesto include i dry tomatoes and not fresh ones, guaranteeing an even more intense flavor. If you use those in oil, reduce the amount of oil and salt in the recipe, if you use dry ones instead not in oil, first let them rehydrate in water for about twenty minutes, drying them well before use.

There ricotta cheese can be of sheep you hate cow, fresh or seasoned, but there are also recipes that do not provide for its use, as in that of pesto alla Trapani.

TO Trapani, with this pesto a typical format of fresh pasta is seasoned busiate. You also use what you like best: it is so good that it will go well with all types of pasta!

How to make zucchini, rocket, walnut, pistachio pesto – Italian Cuisine

The pesto it is a typically Ligurian preparation. In its traditional recipe contains basil leaves, pine nuts, extra virgin olive oil, pecorino cheese and garlic. But the possible versions are many, with different ingredients to perfectly match first is food: yes, because pesto is easily transformed into a sauce for seasoning salads, meat and fish, in addition to enriching in a greedy way pasta and rice.

Do you want an alternative recipe? We offer you many ideas for a different pesto from the Ligurian one. Try the zucchini pesto, delicate and very simple to prepare: the ingredients to put in the mixer are roughly the same as the pesto tradition, plus, of course, the zucchini, which you will have first stewed in a pan.

The fennel pesto cooked garlic is a very aromatic and fragrant cream that you can use to flavor an excellent pasta dish and make it tasty and appetizing or to flavor other dishes.

The rocket pesto, slightly bitter, as well as with pasta you can use it spread on toasted bread or to give a delicate but at the same time pungent touch to your fish or meat dishes.

For a first greedy, find the recipe of risotto with walnut pesto made from a mix of parsley, shallots, walnut kernels and pecorino. Or that of the spaghetti with green beans and dried tomato pesto, with a typically Mediterranean flavor. Delicious!

Have you ever tried the pesto sauce in the Trapani's style made with almonds, fresh tomatoes and basil? It is a very aromatic and fresh condiment, typical of western Sicily. Another Sicilian regional recipe is that of pistachio pesto, delicious fresh and appetizing sauce, ideal for seasoning pasta, croutons and bruschetta.

Do you want to surprise your guests with a tasty, tasty and fragrant first course? Try to season the pasta with the pumpkin pesto and cinnamon nuts! If you want to prepare it in good quantities and maintain it over time, we also give you directions to keep it in jars.

Don't miss all the alternative recipes Salt and pepper for the homemade pesto.