These recipes use nuts that grow well in Ottawa, Canada.
The word pesto comes from the Italian pestare, to pound. Anything that tastes good when pounded together with a mortar and pestle can be a pesto, but standard Italian ingredients are fresh herbs, garlic, nuts, cheese and olive oil. They are traditionally tossed with hot pasta, spread on bread, used as a dressing for vegetables, and used as flavouring in soups and stews. Cooks have been known to snitch a spoonful as is - to check the seasoning, of course!
Pine nuts, hazelnuts and walnuts are commonly used in Italy. Their pine nuts come from Swiss stone pines, whose close relative the Korean nut pine grows well and yields good crops in Ottawa. Turkish Tree Hazel grows well here, and substitutes well for the Italian hazelnut. Our black walnut is even tastier than the native walnut of Italy. Butternut, shagbark hickory and American chestnut can be found here as well, although not in Italy. Most nuts have best flavour when lightly roasted. Chestnut must be cooked - see instructions with its recipes.
Never skimp on your olive oil. Buy extra-virgin grade packed in glass in Italy, and keep it in the frig. Fine olive oils vary almost as much as fine wines. Purists remove the stems of their herbs, but using my preparation method, I keep all but the coarsest unless noted. Most Italian cheeses contain enough salt that no additional is needed.
I use my grandmother's hand-cranked meat grinder instead of a traditional marble mortar and pestle. Simply put everything non-liquid through it, including solid cheeses, then cream lightly with a spoon. It gives a really nice texture to everything. Food processors can be used to chop the ingredients separately, but tend to do it unevenly if everything is done together. Blenders only work if the liquid ingredients are added as well and speed is kept low so that everything doesn't just turn to mush. A good pesto is not a purée - ingredient tastes add together separately.
I recommend leaving a pesto for a few hours in the frig for the flavours to blend before checking seasoning. Pesto may be stored in the frig for up to a week, or frozen in serving-sized chunks. (An ice-cube tray is handy for freezing.) Store pesto under a thin layer of oil to reduce browning. The high-oil recipes keep best; those low in oil should only be eaten fresh, tossed with hot pasta. Freezing makes pestos a bit mushy, but the taste is unchanged.
If you have never used a kitchen scale before, making pesto is the way to find out how useful one is. Simply add each ingredient in turn, adding the desired weight to the previous total. And, if you have an electronic scale with a tare button, you don't even need to remember how to add and subtract! Only one dish to clean, and it doesn't matter how wet or dry anything is.
In Ottawa, you can find top quality Italian cheeses at Nicastro's on Merivale Road. St.Laurent Fruit & Vegetables, St.Laurent and Belfast, is an excellent source of fresh herbs. Look for Aquafuchsia brand sprouts, grown just down the river at Rigaud: alfalfa, radish, onion, mustard ... really neat flavours.
John Sankey
other notes on nutrition
| Basil Pinenut Pesto | ||
|---|---|---|
| fresh basil leaves | 2 oz | These are traditional proportions from Genoa where, it is claimed, pesto originated. 25 servings |
| garlic | 2 cloves | |
| Korean pine nuts | 1 oz | |
| Parmigiano reggiano cheese | 3 oz | |
| Pecorino romano cheese | 1 oz | |
| olive oil | 8 fl.oz | |
| Dill Lemon Walnut Pesto | ||
| dill weed | 3 oz | If you can only get Chinese or Carpathian walnuts, use 3 oz. I trust you know that lemon zest is the finely-cut outer peel - very different from the juice. 15 servings |
| lemon zest | 1 lemon | |
| garlic | 2 cloves | |
| black walnuts | 2 oz | |
| Romano cheese | 3 oz | |
| olive oil | 4 fl.oz | |
| Beet Pepper Walnut Pesto | ||
| beets | 1-1/2 lb | Here, the vegetables become the pesto. Vegan, and hot if you use a habanero pepper. (If in doubt as to the strength of your pepper, keep the dose low. You can always make it up after with fine ground black pepper.) Remove stems and leaves from beets, cook until just tender, remove skins. Remove stems from leaves. In a skillet, cook onion and pepper in the olive oil until softened. Add the beet leaves, cover, cook 5 minutes. 15 servings |
| red onion | 1 | |
| hot pepper | 1/2 small | |
| black walnuts | 4 oz | |
| salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| olive oil | 3 fl.oz | |
| Tomato Walnut Pesto | ||
| sun-dried tomatos | 3 oz | Italian stores sell dried tomatos packed in oil. If you can only find loose packed, steam them for two minutes to soften them. 20 servings |
| alfalfa sprouts | 1 oz | |
| garlic | 3 cloves | |
| black walnuts | 3 oz | |
| Parmesan cheese | 2 oz | |
| olive oil | 4 fl.oz | |
| Rosemary Olive Walnut Pesto | ||
| fresh rosemary | 1/2 oz | This says "Mediterranean", loud and clear. 10 servings |
| fresh parsley | 1 oz | |
| black olives | 4 oz | |
| black walnuts | 2 oz | |
| Romano cheese | 1 oz | |
| olive oil | 1 oz | |
| Broccoli Butternut Pesto | ||
| broccoli flowers | 6 oz | This is mild-flavoured but very good, as are butternuts. 25 servings |
| garlic | 1 clove | |
| butternuts | 4 oz | |
| Parmesan cheese | 2 oz | |
| white pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| olive oil | 7 fl.oz | |
| Watercress Dill Hickory Pesto | ||
| watercress | 3 oz | This is more traditional than it looks - the oil is in the mayonnaise. Only use shagbark hickory nuts - other hickories are bitter. 7 servings |
| dill weed | 1 oz | |
| shagbark hickory nuts | 2 oz | |
| Romano cheese | 2 oz | |
| mayonnaise | 2 oz | |
| Basil Hazelnut Pesto | ||
| fresh basil | 2 oz | Wine, although not traditional Italian practice, distributes the flavours differently than oil. 30 servings |
| fresh parsley | 1 oz | |
| garlic | 3 cloves | |
| hazelnuts | 4 oz | |
| Parmesan cheese | 4 oz | |
| red wine | 1 fl.oz | |
| olive oil | 8 fl.oz | |
| Sage Chestnut Pesto | ||
| fresh sage leaves | 6 | This is higher in nuts than traditional recipes, but the taste of chestnuts is worth savouring. To prepare American chestnuts, cut them in half with a strong chef's knife, give them a minute in a microwave, dig out the meats from each half while they are still warm, then simmer the meats in broth about 10 minutes. Unfortunately, chestnuts do not keep well, so much of the year you will have to use canned European chestnut paste - much less taste than our native nut. Sardo is not a traditional pesto cheese, but its soft taste matches chestnuts well. 20 servings |
| fresh parsley | 1 oz | |
| lemon juice | 1 lemon | |
| American chestnuts | 4 oz | |
| Sardo cheese | 2 oz | |
| olive oil | 4 fl.oz | |
| Radish Chestnut Pesto | ||
| radish sprouts | 4 oz | Radish sprouts are sold in Ottawa as a Japanese specialty, under the names Kaiware or Daikon. They have a really neat flavour, but if you can't find them substitute parsley plus a pinch or two of white pepper; you will also need a bit more oil. See above for a note on chestnut preparation. 12 servings |
| garlic | 1 clove | |
| American chestnuts | 4 oz | |
| Romano cheese | 1 oz | |
| olive oil | 2 fl.oz | |
If you prefer volume measurements, the following are rough equivalents to one ounce weight:
3/4 cup chopped fresh herbs, lightly pressed down
1/2 cup fresh herbs, firmly packed
1/4 cup nut pieces or pine nuts
1/4 cup pre-grated cheese
