Almond Basil Pesto Sauce

One of the best parts of being back in Italy is having access to my mom’s garden. If only I had her green thumb! I mean, I’m not terrible at nursing indoor plants and potted herbs, but an outdoor garden is a whole different story. A garden requires lots of patience (definitely not my strongest suit) and many, many hours of work. It’s a true labor of love.

This year her garden is more beautiful and rich than ever: she planted tomatoes, carrots, string beans, celery, Swiss chard, zucchini, cucumbers, iceberg lettuce, kale, bell peppers, eggplants, strawberries, parsley,….and lots of basil. So green and so thriving! As soon as I saw it, I thought of making a nice pasta with fresh pesto sauce. After completing my garden shopping by filling my basket with a whole bunch of basil leaves (and other fresh goodies), I trotted my way back to the kitchen where I soon realized I ran out of pine nuts–one of the key ingredients for a traditional pesto sauce! Thankfully, I had some almonds and I promptly switched gear (different kinds of nuts work well with pesto–I’ll definitely try the pistachio version soon!).

When all the ingredients were ready and I was about to pull out the food processor, my mom reminded me of a gorgeous marble mortar that was sitting in the basement, by the fireplace. Over the years it kind of lost its real purpose and became more of a holder for random things – birthday candles, a matchbox, wine corks…just to name few. My initial excitement to feature such a cool utensil in my photos immediately vanished when I found out the pestle was missing. Uh oh. The mortar was too cool to let go of the idea to use it.

“Damn Stubborn” is my middle name. So there I was, trying to miraculously turn all the ingredients into a sauce, by banging the thick end of a wooden spoon against them. Although my pictures may suggest differently, after about 10 minutes of frantic beating , I dumped everything into the food processor bowl. 2 minutes–done.

I love how all the ingredients beautifully come together in this lovely sauce. It’s so flavorful and fresh! Pesto is a perfect summer condiment and it’s quite versatile! I like to use it as a pasta sauce, but it can also be a delicious spread on a hot panini. I recently had a “white” pizza with pesto on top. Lovely.

Now, there’s one important thing you should know about pesto: it easily turns dark unless you follow few basic rules. I’m fascinated with the scientific aspect of cooking and Dario Bressanini‘s blog is a great read for whomever is interested in learning about the science of food. Unfortunately, I think his blog is only available in Italian. However, here are a few things I learned from his interesting article on pesto:

*The ingredients should be processed in such a way not to heat them. Refrigerate the ingredients before using them, and add the cheese at the very end. Placing your food processor blades in the freezer also helps.

*The basil shouldn’t be exposed to oxygen while being processed. Pour the oil on top of the basil leaves and push them down with a spoon until they’re all covered in oil. Using a small food processor (think Magic Bullet) helps minimizing the oxygen exposure. For my pesto, I used a hand-held blender.

Just stick to these rules and your pesto will be bright green!