Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar
This amazing cookbook combines two of Marcela’s classic books. The classic pesto recipe is one to make over and over. I got lost in the pasta sauce chapter. You will too. Next on my list: Chicken Fricassee, Cacciatore Style; Green Beans Pasticcio; and apple fritters.
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Recipe excerpted with permission from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking: 30th Anniversary Edition by Marcella Hazan. Copyright © 1992 by Marcella Hazan. Foreword copyright © 2022 by Victor Hazan. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Pesto by the Food Processor Method
For 6 servings
For the processor:
2 cups tightly packed fresh basil leaves
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons pine nuts
2 garlic cloves, chopped fine before putting in the processor
Salt
For completion by hand:
½ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
2 tablespoons freshly grated romano cheese
3 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
1½ pounds pasta
1. Briefly soak and wash the basil in cold water, and gently pat it thoroughly dry with paper towels.
2. Put the basil, olive oil, pine nuts, chopped garlic, and an ample pinch of salt in the processor bowl, and process to a uniform, creamy consistency.
3. Transfer to a bowl, and mix in the two grated cheeses by hand. It is worth the slight effort to do it by hand to obtain the notably superior texture it produces. When the cheese has been evenly amalgamated with the other ingredients, mix in the softened butter, distributing it uniformly into the sauce.
4. When spooning the pesto over pasta, dilute it slightly with a tablespoon or two of the hot water in which the pasta was cooked.
Freezing pesto: Make the sauce by the food processor method through to the end of Step 2, and freeze it without cheese and butter in it. Add the cheese and butter when it is thawed, just before using.
