Pine Nut Pistachio Basil Pesto

Who hasn’t heard of “pesto alla Genovese”? This classic is made from crushed garlic, pine nuts, basil leaves, Parmesan cheese and salt.

The name “pesto” comes from a Genovese word, which means “to crush”. According to the traditional method, all ingredients were crushed in a mortar. But nowadays we like to prepare everything faster, so I used food processor instead of mortar.

Pesto started to be popular around in the world in 1970’s and has some traditional and lot of modern variations. Look at Kyara’s modern Artichoke Basil Pesto too!

Basic ingredients are flavorful leaves, oily nuts, hard cheese, olive oil, garlic, salt and a pinch of creativity, everybody can make own variation.

Red Pesto is from Sicily, it’s made with extra tomato and uses almonds instead of pine nuts. Another traditional one is from Calabria, where they used grilled bell pepper and black pepper. Pine nuts are substituted with walnut, almond or cashew mainly because of the price.

Maybe you are surprised when you see “lactose free” tag below the title and parmegiani cheese is between the ingredients. Parmegiano Reggiano cheese is 100% lactose free cheese, within 6-8 hours after cheese is made, lactose is transformed into lactic acid, and a rapid growth of lactic bacteria metabolizes galactose, a component of lactose. It is safe for people who have lactose intolerance.

Pesto can be used on pasta, in Genovese minestrone soup, on sliced Mozzarella cheese (it’s not lactose free) or served with sliced meat. My recipe with pesto is coming this week.