Pesto!

 

Tomb 

In the dark of confinement this past winter, some of our friends created a game (kind of) called Tomb, in which you must choose 5 things in certain categories to take with you into the afterlife. For instance, you have 5 beverages you can have for all of time - and you can only have those beverages - what do you choose? If you are like 4 out of 7 of us, one of these is a keg of Pacifico. 

Two of the categories were “herbs” and “noodle dishes.” I listed Trofie al pesto as a noodle dish in my top 5. My herbs were parsley, chive, mint, thyme and marjoram. The rules of the game became confusing when Em pointed out that one couldn’t have pesto without basil. My retort to her was that you can have pesto without basil. Em said she never had that. I said yes, you did have it, at my house last summer. 

That was a fib. I made pesto with lots of mint, thyme and just some basil. This blog post is my confession to Em. 

Massimo Bottura 

At that time I had just watched Massimo Bottura’s MasterClass. I’m kind of embarrassed to say that I shelled out $180 to watch instructional/inspirational videos ranging widely in quality. It was spring 2020, a difficult and uncertain time. I watched all the chef Thomas Keller videos, which were really well-made and full of helpful insights, but involved making a lot of rich French food that made me feel sick. 

When I got to Bottura I was delighted. He is the man behind Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, and the author of Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef. In the MasterClass videos, his Japanese sous chef Taka Kondo plays the straight man to his court jester, and it’s clear they just had a ball throwing a few of these classes together. There’s also lots of wisdom to be gleaned - from Bottura’s commitment to fighting food waste to his aphorisms like, “water is truth.” There is an episode on pesto, called, “an evolution of pesto,” called so because Bottura says, “we have always to be critic and not nostalgic” - not resting on the exact same way things have been done, when maybe those old ways are less practical, more wasteful, or simply don’t feel right in the moment. 

After he picks the herbs, he takes the bare stems and puts them into the boiling pasta water. When you watch classy chefs like Bottura or Keller you think about gesture, how they are placing things in things with such intention. 

He describes a scenario where you are making pesto, but you don’t have pine nuts, so you consider an alternative. Bottura settles on one of his favorite things - and one of his grandmother’s too - breadcrumbs - as a substitute. This is very useful since pine nuts are expensive and go bad quickly. 

Then, he says, maybe you don’t have so much basil. What do you use instead? I really appreciate this consideration, because I never seem to have enough basil. Even when we are growing it in the summer, mine often goes strong for a little but the leaves turn pale and fragile, and it often bolts if I don’t pay enough attention. By comparison, mint spreads and grows quickly. Thyme is heartier and easier to cultivate, or, if store-bought- stays fresh a little longer. Ideally for this type of recipe you are using herbs you just picked from your window box. 

The nostalgic pesto of my childhood 

I also admire how Bottura approaches garlic in pesto - an ingredient domineering in my early memories of the sauce. The pesto I had growing up was thick with chunks of muddy green, oxidized basil, bitter garlic and tons of parmesan. The oil and the paste separated easily. 

It was always delicious but a different creature altogether from Bottura’s creamy, bright green pesto. Fair warning: making pesto is both easy and a project. I definitely respect and understand buying it from a jar. It takes a little time calibrating your proportions of oil, water and herbs, and requires you to stop and mix up the blender contents repeatedly. Sometimes I find it pretty irritating, and a little messy. It requires a lot of herbs - I won’t mince words there. That can be expensive. But it also smells delicious in your kitchen and feels so much like summer. 

My friend Mac explained how every Italian household has its own pesto, its own preferred texture and palette of flavors. I love this idea. You can make your pesto as piecey or smooth as you like. It’s fun to play around with. 

The noodle

In the video, Massimo and Taka just use a nice dried fusilli. Trofie is a shape traditional to Liguria, the land of pesto. It is usually served with quarters of boiled potatoes. Both fusilli and trofie have ridges that trap pasta and sauce together. It’s special to make Trofie by hand. It’s a small shape that is time consuming to produce much of, perhaps the most time-consuming i have ever made. They are little delicate whispers of a noodle.

“Cooking is an act of love, and you do it for yourself” Bottura says. With that spirit to guide you, you can choose what pasta is best, dried or handmade. 

Trofie al Pesto 

A part of me wishes I could offer precise quantities, but pesto is more of an art than a science. I apologize in advance if this frustrates you - it has frustrated me too. Make sure you have lots of herbs on hand, at least 5 big handfuls full, after picking. 

For the Pesto: 

Makes about 1 cup 

Garlic bulb, halved 

“Garlic is very aggressive in taste,” Bottura says. He slices a bulb in half and gently rubs it once around the blender pitcher, that’s it. 

Herbs that don’t trample each other’s flavors, like Mint, Nasturtium, Thyme, Basil, maybe some oregano 

Extra Virgin Olive oil, about ½ cup 

Parmigiano Reggiano or another aged cheese, like a pecorino, or aged goat cheese, grated thinly (optional - can use more breadcrumbs instead) about ¼ cup

Breadcrumbs, about ½ c 

Salt to taste 

Swipe the garlic bulb cut side around the inside of your blender. Taka puts olive oil into the basin of the blender first. Then he adds your leafy herbs. Then add your cheese if using. Add more olive oil, but not so much as to saturate the herbs - you should still have big leafy pieces. Mix up, then add cool, good tasting water, slowly, incorporating as you go. You will probably have to stop and start the blender a few times to get all the pieces smooth. If you want a creamy texture, you will need more cold water and patience to run the blender for a longer time. Taste as you go, adding salt when needed. 

For the Pasta:  

To make the pasta dough, consult Em’s semolina + water dough blog post. 

To shape the trofie, roll your dough into long, thin (about ¼”) logs. Using a knife or a bench scraper, slice short segments of the dough on a sharp diagonal bias. Take the flat of the knife or bench scrape and apply pressure while rolling the piece along the edge. You will get a curly little flute shape. Toss prepared noodles with semolina in a baking sheet and keep a dampish towel over them, storing in a cool place while you work on the others. 

Boil noodles for about 45 seconds. They will float to the surface when they are ready. Keep some pasta water. Toss the noodles in the pesto sauce, being generous. Add a little extra virgin olive oil for some shine. Add a little pasta water for some creaminess. Serve right away. 

Keeping in mind Bottura’s freedom of exploration and experimentation, I would suggest a nontraditional pairing. The fresh, vibrant Le Puits from Les Vin Contes. It’s a chardonnay and sauvignon blanc blend that is crisp but delicate, and won’t overwhelm the flavors of the herbal green sauce. 

you can put some nasturium leaves if you have them!