Rinse the basil leaves quickly in cold water and dry them thoroughly on a cloth without crushing them. Grate the cheeses.

Ingredients

• 50 gBasil, fresh
• 100 mlOil, olive, salad or cooking
• 45 gCheese, parmesan, grated
• 15 gCheese, romano
• 8 gGarlic, raw
• 15 gNuts, pine nuts, dried
• 2 gSalt, table

Method

1. Rinse the basil leaves quickly in cold water and dry them thoroughly on a cloth without crushing them. Grate the cheeses.
2. In a marble mortar, crush the garlic with a few grains of coarse salt to a paste with a wooden pestle, then add the pine nuts and crush them too.
3. Add the basil a handful at a time with the remaining grains of salt and grind it with a circular motion of the pestle against the sides of the mortar, rather than pounding, until bright green liquid runs from the leaves. Work quickly and at room temperature so the basil does not oxidise.
4. Work in the Parmigiano and pecorino and finally beat in the oil drop by drop with the pestle until a smooth sauce forms. Without a mortar, you can make pesto in a blender with a chilled jar, using short pulses at low speed so it does not warm up.
5. Do not heat the pesto; to serve, loosen it only with 1–2 tablespoons of pasta cooking water and toss it with the pasta off the heat. Traditionally trofie or trenette are cooked together with diced potatoes and green beans in the same water. One serving of pesto goes with one serving of pasta (about 80–100 g dried).