Typical food from LIGURIA
PESTO SAUCE
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Taglierini with
pesto sauce
Pesto was probably first made in the second half of the nineteenth century as no mention of it has it been found in earlier documents. In any case, it has its origins in Genoese exposure to Eastern cookery, where sauced based on oil-seed abound.Pesto is the centerpiece of Ligurian cooking and for this reason its preparation is virtually a mystical rite that requires the use of a marble mortar and an olive.wood pestle.First you need to crusch garlic and tender, small-leafed basil in a mortar with a little kitchen salt.Now comes the crucial question what cheese is to be used? There’s no easy answer as there’s no original recipe to go by Sardinian "pecorino" (sheep’s cheese) and Dutch cheese are both possible candidate , while parmesan cheese has gained increasing consensus in recent time because it is more delicate in flavour than pungent sheep’s cheese. Perhaps the best option of all is a compromise half parmesan and half "pecorino".The use of olive oil is beyond doubt: butter or other fats are to be avoided.Pine nuts or walnuts are only added if te pesto is to be eaten as a pasta sauce, if not prepared for minestrone soup.Anyone who doesn’t like pesto wil find "tocco" a delicious alternative.

                          

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