PESTO MORTAR RECIPES

Steps:

• Crush garlic and pinch of kosher salt in a mortar with the pestle until garlic is mashed and paste-like, 1 or 2 minutes. Add basil in 3 or 4 additions, crushing and pounding down the leaves until they form a fairly fine paste, about 8 minutes or more depending on size of leaves and thickness of stems. Add and pound in pine nuts.
• Transfer a handful of grated cheese to mortar and pound into the sauce. Add another handful of cheese and incorporate into the mixture. Continue adding cheese a handful at a time until completely incorporated, about 5 minutes.
• Drizzle in olive oil 1 tablespoon at a time, pounding it into the sauce. When all the olive oil has been added and emulsified into the mixture, transfer pesto to a bowl and drizzle surface with olive oil.

Steps:

• Pesto with lots of fresh basil, parmesan and good olive oil is a very good dressing. Perfect as a dip / dressing for an Italian meal or with pasta. Here is my recipe for this classic. It works to use a blender or similar, but if you want the very best taste and consistency, you must use a mortar that crushes and presses the good flavors together.
• Start by putting the garlic together with salt in the mortar and crush to a puree. Add pine nuts and crush together with the garlic.
• Add as much basil as you can and crush with the rest. Do this until you have used up all the basil. Grate parmesan and add in together with the rest, crush until you get a smooth pesto.
• Dilute with the olive oil little by little and mix together. Finish by seasoning with a little lemon juice, salt and pepper.
• Now the pesto is ready for serving! Good luck and enjoy. Here you can see a quick video about how I make it.