Recipe Pesto sauce. Calorie, chemical composition and nutritional value.

April 6, 2019
Tips for tourists
Natalie M

Pesto is a sauce that has been known to us since Roman times. It is based on pine nuts and olive oil. Pesto is a sauce distinguished by its specific green color, spectacular aroma and oily thick consistency. Most often, this ingredient is served with meat dishes, pasta or fish. If you want to give your dish a little Italian touch, then you should check out the pesto recipe described in our article.

general description

How to prepare this delicacy? First of all, you should become more familiar with what pesto sauce is. This is a traditional Italian dish made with olive oil, Parmesan cheese and green basil. The birthplace of pesto sauce is Northern Italy, and in Genoa there is even a consortium organized, according to which the recipe for the classic sauce should be preserved only in its original form, and high-quality basil brought from Liguria is used for production.

This Italian sauce can transform absolutely any dish and snack, making them more flavorful, with a so-called Mediterranean touch. The classic pesto recipe is over 200 years old. It is made by grinding the prepared components in a glass or marble mortar using a wooden pestle. However, today the cooking process looks different. Currently, homemade pesto can be prepared using a blender or whipped with a mixer, so that the mixture turns out to be a homogeneous and dense consistency.

Creamy pesto sauce

"Parmesan" - 0.1 kg.
cream cheese - 120 gr.
olive oil - 65 ml.
garlic - 2 cloves
walnuts - 110 gr.
lemon juice - 40 ml.
dried basil - 60 gr.

Before you make the creamy pesto sauce, it's worth noting that it's perfect for spaghetti. At home everything is done simply.

1. Pass the cheese through a grater and grind the nut kernels into crumbs. After this, place all the ingredients in a blender.

2. Turn the ingredients into a creamy mass. The resulting sauce should be somewhat reminiscent of cream. Taste it!

Compound

The most famous and classic recipe for pesto sauce contains basil, salt, pine seeds, garlic, pecorino cheese or grana padano hard sheep cheese, as well as Ligurian olive oil, but only extra virgin. If we talk about the Sicilian sauce, it is made without nuts, but sun-dried tomatoes are added to it. Neapolitan pesto is made with tomatoes and almonds, but without the cheese.

There are many different variations of the sauce recipe. You can safely experiment at home, replace pine nuts with walnuts, peanuts or hazelnuts, and use dill, arugula or mint instead of basil. The constant in this recipe is olive oil, which must be of high quality. Hard sheep cheese can be replaced with Parmesan, Reggiano, and the mixture can be seasoned with dried tomatoes, parsley or hot pepper. Some people prefer to add a small amount of coriander, and replace the roasted nuts with roasted ones.

Can the recipe be changed?

In other countries you can find improvisations of pesto sauce. This is a French sauce without nuts, an Austrian sauce with pumpkin seeds, and a German one with wild garlic instead of basil. This dish is quite popular in Italy, as well as abroad. Pesto is often used to make pasta, season salads, pizza, and simply spread it on crackers, resulting in an appetizing and satisfying snack that goes well with any drink.

And if you decide to make minestrone soup, then this dish cannot be imagined without adding vegetable oil sauce. Some people prefer to mix pesto sauce with sour cream or cream and coat chicken carcasses with it for further baking.

So, we have looked at what pesto is and what it contains. Now it’s worth taking a closer look at how you can prepare this sauce at home yourself.

Arugula pesto sauce

olive oil - 90-100 ml.
garlic clove - 1 pc.
pine nuts - 1 handful
arugula - 25 gr.
"Parmesan" - 45 gr.

Pesto sauce is great for salad dressings and appetizers. The recipe at home is quite easy to implement. The process is described step by step.

1. Wash the greens and wait until the moisture has completely evaporated. Grind the cheese, chop the garlic as finely as possible. Place all ingredients except nuts into a blender bowl.

2. Add oil and season with spices to your taste. Make a homogeneous mixture from the ingredients. Finally, add the nuts and stir.

Cooking recipes

Any housewife can make this sauce on her own. This will take no more than 5 minutes. You just need to prepare the ingredients in advance, after which all components are beaten until smooth using a mixer or blender. If you want to achieve the softest and most delicate taste, then the products will need to be ground with a pinch of coarse sea salt in a special mortar and pestle. In this case, the cooking time for the seasoning will increase, but the consistency and benefits will be much better.

Classic recipe

Classic pesto - what is it? The classic recipe involves the use of only natural Italian ingredients. These include fresh green basil, extra virgin olive oil, and hard parmesan cheese. Thanks to such ingredients, you can get a dense and thick sauce that is able to maintain its texture and not spread during spreading. For production, all components must be of high quality and fresh. So, what is pesto prepared according to the classic recipe? What ingredients are needed for this?

50 g green fresh basil.
50 g cheese.
30 grams of pine nuts.
2 cloves of garlic.
Half a glass of extra virgin olive oil.

Before cooking, basil leaves must be washed and dried. The garlic is cut into thin slices, and the cheese is grated on a fine grater. All components are mixed together using a blender for a couple of minutes, or crushed in a mortar. The finished sauce is served with pasta, spaghetti or macaroni. Fish baked in the oven with pesto sauce turns out to be very tasty.

With basil and parmesan cheese

To prepare this sauce, you must use only fresh basil. As for cheese, you can take any type of hard cheese, but Parmesan or Rodgiana is preferable. The main ingredient in the recipe is basil, but it can also be replaced with dill or parsley. What products will be needed for this recipe?

1 bunch of fresh basil.
50 g Parmesan cheese.
3 garlic cloves.
1 handful of pine nuts.
120 ml olive oil.

Basil leaves should be washed under cold water and the stems should be trimmed. Basil is dried on a napkin. Garlic cloves should be cut into thin slices, Parmesan should be grated on a fine grater. The leaves of the main ingredient are coarsely chopped and ground in a blender along with Parmesan cheese, pine nuts, garlic, and olive oil. It is recommended to pour the oil in small portions, which will ensure an even pouring.

If you use another cheese in the recipe, the sauce will need to be additionally salted. The taste becomes very interesting if you replace the basil with parsley and cilantro, or add spinach to the finished sauce. It is best to serve the resulting seasoning with vegetable slices, as well as with warm original salads.

Creamy pesto

We continue to look at recipes for making Italian pesto sauce. A very unusual recipe is the one with the addition of cream and butter. This sauce has a distinct delicate taste and milky aroma. It is best to serve it with pasta, which is mixed with flour, but only from durum wheat. This hearty Mediterranean dish can perfectly fill you up in winter or summer. To prepare the sauce, only heavy cream and butter are used, and the other ingredients are unchanged: nuts, herbs, garlic, olive oil. What you will need for preparation:

Half a bunch of fresh basil.
30 grams of pine nuts.
2 cloves of garlic.
50 g Parmesan cheese.
120 ml heavy cream.
20 g butter.
70 ml olive oil.

The basil must be thoroughly washed under cold water, dried, and the petioles cut off from the leaves. Then combine the herb with garlic, which should be cut into thin slices in advance. Pine nuts and grated Parmesan cheese are added to the ingredients. Beat the resulting mixture with a blender a couple of times, then add salt, pepper, olive oil, and mix everything thoroughly.

Heat the heavy cream over low heat, add butter, and bring to a smooth consistency. Both masses are combined with each other, the main thing is to prevent delamination; everything is thoroughly mixed.

The finished sauce is served with pasta with mushrooms or spinach.

How to make pesto sauce - step by step instructions

You can speed up and simplify the recipe by putting all the ingredients in a food processor and blending them for a few minutes. But for special occasions, you should try, spare no expense and time, and prepare the sauce without violating the real Italian recipe.

Place the pine nuts in a frying pan or baking sheet and dry over medium heat. There is no need to add oil - the nuts are fatty enough on their own. You will need to shake the pan or baking sheet several times to prevent the nuts from frying or burning.
Tear off the basil leaves, put them in a mortar and grind.
Add garlic and nuts to the greens, grind again until a homogeneous mass of rough consistency is obtained.
Continue to grind the mixture, gradually adding olive oil.
Add grated Parmesan at the end. It’s more convenient to do this in two steps: first add half the amount of cheese, mix, then add the rest of the cheese shavings.

Tip: To prepare the sauce, you can use a meat grinder - some prefer this particular kitchen equipment, since in a blender, if the sauce is prepared in small quantities, the greens are often not crushed to the desired consistency, get stuck between the blades and stick to the walls.

Pesto can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days in a tightly sealed container. Then it loses its aroma, changes taste and consistency. But this versatile dressing is so delicious that it usually doesn’t have to be stored for long - everything is eaten immediately after preparation.

Tomato pesto

This recipe for making Italian sauce can be called not entirely traditional, but many people love it in some Italian provinces. Here, pine nuts are replaced with walnuts, and if desired, they can also be mixed with cashews or almonds. Sun-dried tomatoes give this sauce the thickest and richest consistency, as well as an aromatic, pungent taste. The ideally prepared sauce goes well with pasta or vegetables. Many people prefer to spread the tomato batter on bread or crackers. To make it at home, you will need:

100 g sun-dried tomatoes.
1 fresh tomato.
50 g walnuts.
10 g dried red paprika.
2 cloves of garlic.
1 bunch of fresh basil.
50 g parmesan.
4 tablespoons olive oil.

Using a blender, you need to beat chopped sun-dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, chopped garlic, nuts, pre-washed and dried basil. After this, olive oil is added in small portions; you can also use the oil that is left over from the sun-dried tomatoes. Then add dried paprika and grated Parmesan cheese. All ingredients are whisked again.

The ready-made sauce is served with dry croutons and crackers. Many people prefer to pour tomato pesto over lasagna.

Pesto with parsley and cilantro

parsley (greens) - 1 bunch
cilantro (greens) - 1 bunch
salt - 4 gr.
"Parmesan" - 80-90 gr.
cloves of garlic - 2 pcs.
nuts (any) - 2 handfuls
olive oil - 100 ml.

Pesto sauce according to this recipe is quite easy to make at home. We suggest you review the instructions step by step.

1. Grate the cheese and combine with the remaining ingredients according to the list. Place everything except the oil in a blender cup. Beat to a paste.

2. Pour in the oil, turn on the blender again and beat for 3 minutes. During this time, the pasta will become homogeneous, ideal for spaghetti and other dishes.

With arugula

In this recipe, basil is replaced with fresh arugula, which can give the sauce an original bitter taste. It can also be used in combination with pine nuts, but the option presented below implies that walnuts and grated Parmesan cheese will be used. Olive oil and garlic remain constant cooking ingredients in this recipe. What you will need:

100 g fresh arugula.
50 g walnuts.
3 cloves of garlic.
50 g Parmesan cheese.
125 ml olive oil.

Rinse the arugula thoroughly under cold water, dry it on a napkin, and remove all stems. The leaves are crushed into small pieces, mixed with fried nuts, which must be finely ground, and chopped garlic is added to the ingredients. Everything is thoroughly mixed, after which olive oil is poured, chopped Parmesan cheese, salt to taste and ground black pepper are poured in. The prepared sauce is served with dried croutons and crackers. It can also be used as a seasoning for pasta or spaghetti.

What does the sauce come with?

Dishes seasoned with pesto immediately acquire a magical aroma and taste. Even the most ordinary pasta can become a gourmet pasta if you add this oil filling. A traditional combination in Italy is ravioli and pesto, as well as cod or salmon baked in the oven with sauce. There are many different options for what you can pair Italian seasoning with. Many people prefer to use regular fresh tomatoes with mozzarella, sliced vegetables, and salads with goat cheese with pesto sauce. This delicious sauce is perfect even with crackers or dried out croutons.

Pasta with pesto sauce

Enjoy yourself and delight your loved ones with this most delicate and lightest pasta with pesto sauce. It will be delicious - we guarantee!

Ingredients for 4 servings:

400 g spaghetti or other pasta
salt
1 table. spoon of olive oil
125 g spicy dry-cured salami
1 medium onion
1 pod each red and yellow sweet pepper
100 g pesto sauce
herbs for garnish (e.g. oregano, lettuce, parsley)

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