John's English Club

Very fast homemade Genovese Pesto

A_Minute_With_Me
Why "very fast"? Because you will use the immersion blender -even if in Italy doing this is almost a heresy!-, but a dummy needs self-esteem and excellent results in the kitchen

You need:

- A immersion blender 
- 135 gr. of extra virgin olive oil 
- 75 gr. of basil leaves
- 30 gr. of grated pecorino
- 45 gr. of grated Parmesan cheese (or 75 gr. grated Parmesan cheese, if you CANNOT use pecorino cheese)
- 30 gr. of pine nuts
- 1 small clove of garlic
- 1 pinch of salt

1. Fill a bowl with ice cubes and set the blades of the immersion blender to cool. Put the blender glass in the fridge.

2. The ingredients must be cold: keep the cheeses and pine nuts in the fridge.

3. Meanwhile, prepare the basil leaves: choose only leaves with a perfect appearance and a bright green colour, separate them from the stems, then wash and dry them by placing them in a row between two sheets of absorbent paper and dab them very gently.

4. Take the glass from the fridge and add the basil, salt, the peeled garlic clove, the pine nuts and the extra virgin olive oil. Take the immersion blender off the ice, dry the blades quickly and start blending everything intermittently WITHOUT heating the blades and raising and lowering the blender. You can count to 4, stop blending, and resume blending for a count of 4 until you have a smooth consistency.

6. Now, add the grated cheese and ALWAYS do the same for a nice shimmering green cream.

7. Your homemade Genovese Pesto is ready: you can use it immediately or freeze it in disposable aluminum containers.

8. If the result is something good, you are less dummy than yesterday: be proud of yourself!
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