In pursuit of fresh basil for pasta sauce

Press, 21 April 1984, Page 14

In pursuit of fresh basil for pasta sauce

Food & Fable

by

David Burton

Growing your own basil is a trying business, especially here in Christchurch. The plant demands a sheltered spot and long hours of hot sun, yet left unwatered will wilt into a pathetic heap within a day. Basil is after all native to the hot steamy regions of India. Even on the Italian Riviera at the height of summer it is grown in glasshouses at high humidity, in order to get the sweetest, most succulent flavour. Many people find it easier to grow basil as an indoor pot plant, placing it on a sunny window sill. While some herbs such as thyme seem to retain their distinctive flavour with drying, basil does not. Fresh, it seems to me to be an aromatic combination of fennel and mint (to which it is botanically related), while others say they can detect a trace of cloves about it.

Dried basil, however, is disappointing in comparison, taking on a curry-like flavour. Fresh basil has a special affinity with tomatoes—it is great on a simple salad of sliced tomatoes with French dressing—but there is an even better reason for going to a lot of trouble to get hold of it. This is in order to make pesto. If you have never tried this classic pasta sauce from Liguria in Italy, 1 can promise you a truly amazing taste experience is in store. Pesto 50g fresh basil leaves 25g pine nuts 2 large cloves garlic 40g parmesan cheese, finely grated (or 20g parmesan and 20g Romano) % cup olive oil ’A tsp salt black pepper

Traditionally pesto was made with a mortar and pestle (hence, pesto), a very laborious process indeed. The modern method is to use a blender, but some say this produces pesto of an inferior quality. Having tried both methods I cannot agree. Blender method: place the basil leaves, pine nuts, and garlic cloves in the bowl of the blender. If your blender has three speeds, turn it on to speed 2. This should be just enough to steadily break up the leaves and nuts. You will probably have to stop the machine and poke the top leaves and nuts down every so often. When the leaves are well mashed, add the olive oil and half the parmesan cheese, turn the blender up to full speed and add the rest of the parmesan. Add the’salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Mortar and pestle method: chop the basil

leaves as finely as possible before adding them to the mortar with the pine nuts and garlic cloves. Crush the pine nuts and garlic with a pound motion, then use a grinding motion to crush the leaves still further. Stir in olive oil, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Failing a mortar and pestle, use a mixing bowl and crush the ingredients against the sides with the back of a large wooden spoon. You will end up with what seems a meagre amount but remember that pesto is very rich—you will only need about a tablespoonful per person, plopped in the middle of a plate of pasta. The best sort to use is the ribbon shaped trenette variety, but macaroni or any pasta with a large surface area willl suffice. Pesto is also delicious served with fish. It is permissable to vary

the recipe—every town in Liguria seems to. In Genoa, home of pesto, it is often made with a very sharp Sardinian sheeps milk cheese, while just to the south of that city at Nervi, cream is added to make a blander version. Walnuts are sometimes used instead of pine nuts, but don’t let anybody tell you that real pesto can be made with dried basil, or chopped parsley. It cannot. Further back in the past than anybody can remember, pesto was adopted into the cooking of Provence (in neighbouring France) under the name of pistou, albeit in a somewhat

bowdlerised form in which * the piquancy of parmesan is * sometimes replaced by the ' milder flavour of gruyere. Around Nice it had been * used as a sauce for roast -» mutton, and it is also used in a stew of tripe, onions and white wine. -» Its most celebrated use in jProvencal cooking however, is in Soupe au Pistou, a sort ' of minestrone based on to-.* matoes, potatoes, and ver-% micelli, with fresh white < beans and zucchini added in «■ the summer, and in winter, * dried beans and pumpkin. * The pesto is added to give £ an explosive, last-minute » perfume.