Green Mortar - Pesto alla Genovese

Italian cuisine belongs to my favourites. I also love herbs, especially basil...and, as you might have noticed, green is my favourite colour.

Pesto is amazingly versatile. It can be used as a light and simple pasta sauce, soup garnish, or to spice up caprese salad and other dishes. Having a jar of basil pesto in the fridge came in handy many times...

Pestare means to pound/to crush in Italian, hence the name of this delicacy which is traditionally prepared by grounding the ingredients with a circular motions of pestle in the mortar. 

I got my very own mortar as a Christmas present from my grandma - a great addition to my personal kitchen lab!

Pesto alla Genovese

Ingredients (makes for about 1 full bigger mortar)

3 handfuls of basil leaves
0.5 tsp. coarse-grain sea salt
60 ml extra virgin olive oil
1-2 garlic cloves
30 g pine nuts
4 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Crush the basil leaves with salt against the sides of the mortar until you get a smooth paste (the coarse-grain salt will help crushing the leaves)
2. Add the olive oil and pound some more
3. Add halved garlic cloves and continue grounding in circular motion (garlic should not be the dominant ingredient, if you happen to have a "stronger" garlic, put in less)
4. Add pine nuts and Parmesan and crush until fine and smooth
5. Store refrigerated in a glass jar