Pesto and Other Sauces
This spicy green paste of basil, olive oil, garlic, pine nuts, and cheese has recently become very popular in the rest of Europe, although there it usually comes straight out of a sterile jar onto the pasta. But it is definitely worth getting to know the flavor of fresh-made pesto.
Opinions on the ingredients of pesto and theories concerning the only proper way to make it are many and varied. Some insist on the inclusion of pine nuts, while the purists say this a variation from the district of Savona and has no connection with the original Pesto alla genovese. They also argue about whether the basil leaves should be washed, and whether it is permissible to make pesto in a blender, instead of in a marble mortar. All you can say about it is that the metal blades of the blender really can affect the taste of basil. On the other hand, the machine only takes a short time to produce an even paste, which would have taken a cook, using traditional utensils such as a mortar and a wooden pestle, quite some time to achieve. At any rate, the experts are agreed on two points: the aromatic taste of the pesto is absolutely dependent on the quality of the olive oil and the basil. Only the best Ligurian extra virgin olive oil should be used. Cheap olive oil ruins the pesto, just surely as limp herbs, which have never seen genuine sunlight in their short life. Even the very strong flavored basil from southern Italy distorts the taste, as it often has a slightly minty aftertaste. Small-leafed Ligurian basil, which has been grown in a tiny herb garden where a strong sea breeze sometimes blows, is undoubtfully the best. Leaves picked while the plant is in flower have the strongest flavor. For anyone unwilling to believe this, a trip to the pesto stronghold of Genoa is recommended. Sampling it here will confirm once and for all the Ligurian pesto simply could not taste as good anywhere else in the world.
The splendid Ligurian pasta creations would also be inconceivable without the delicious local sauces. The pale, creamy Salsa di noci, made from walnuts, pine nuts, garlic, butter, and cream, is almost as much of a favorite in Liguria as the green pesto. The combination of nuts. And cream or yogurt might suggest that the recipe originated in the Orient. As an important port, Genoa traditionally provided a forum for culinary influences from all over the world. Other Ligurian sauces, too, such as Sugo di cariofi, which is made from artichokes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, concentrated tomato paste, and white wine, taste wonderful with trenette or trofie. Only Bagnum di acciughe, particularly tangy sauce of anchovies and tomatoes, is not used for pasta. Instead, it is spread on slices of toasted white bread.
