Basil : Pesto Alla Genovese

In our house there are dishes, flavors, and even foods that are so closely defined with certain seasons, that they might as well be a stand-in for the season itself. Pesto is one of those dishes. Even if it’s not the height of summer, with a basil still warm from sitting in the sun, that’s what it tastes like.

There is something so definitively summer about pesto that it’s like someone distilled every experience of the season into a simple sauce we coat pasta with it. It’s one of the ultimate comfort foods.

The word pesto generally refers to the original dish pesto alla genovese, which is a sauce originating in Genoa, the capital city of Liguria, Italy. The name is the past participle of the Genoese verb pestâ, which means “to pound”, “to crush”, in reference to the original method of preparation: according to tradition, the ingredients are “crushed” or ground in a marble mortar through a circular motion of a wooden pestle.

Technically, pesto is a generic term for anything that is made by pounding; that is why the word is used for several pestos in Italy. Nonetheless, pesto alla genovese remains the most popular pesto in Italy and the rest of the world. It traditionally consists of crushed basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts, coarse salt, hard cheese such as Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Sardo, all blended with olive oil.

It is salty, sharp, creamy, fresh and bright. Just like summer.

We tend to make it with pasta, but it’s also been known to make it onto pizza, tossed with chicken, or slathered on a torn baguette when you’ve just come home from the beach and showered outside.