Sauces · Italian cuisine
Pesto alla genovese
Genoa’s cold sauce of basil, pine nuts, garlic, two cheeses and oil, pounded in a marble mortar.
At a glance
- Origin
- Genoa and Liguria; in writing since the mid-19th century.
- Production
- Pounded cold in a marble mortar with a wooden pestle.
- Ratio
- Per mortar: 60–70 g basil, 30 g pine nuts, 45–60 g Parmigiano, 20–40 g Fiore Sardo and 60–80 ml oil.
- Pairs with
- Pasta such as trofie or linguine, and gnocchi.
Pesto alla genovese is a cold Ligurian sauce. The classic seven ingredients, as given by the Consorzio del Pesto Genovese and Genoa’s Chamber of Commerce, are Basilico Genovese PDO, extra virgin olive oil (ideally from the Riviera Ligure), Parmigiano Reggiano (Grana Padano is accepted), Fiore Sardo pecorino, pine nuts, garlic – best from Vessalico – and coarse sea salt.
Traditionally it is made in a marble mortar with a wooden pestle at room temperature: first garlic with salt, then basil leaves, pine nuts, cheeses and finally the oil. A blender is a home shortcut.
Genoese sources name agliata, a mortar-pounded garlic sauce, as its forerunner; the first written pesto recipe dates from the mid-19th century.