Pesto and I have a short yet checkered past together. Towards the beginning of my culinary exploration pesto loaned it's timeless clout to my food repertoire. In it came calvary and all, yielding me with multiple praises of admiration as friends and family were served up by the pound. But somewhere within that ambiguous sauce my deepest most digestible secret laid. I had used store bought "assistance."
I was the master with personal disguises of fresh basil, garlic and handfuls of parmesan cheese. Today, however I am no longer convinced that those augmentations qualify me to have called the sauce my own.
My grand parade of entertaining with store bought pesto plummeted after attending my exorbitant culinary school. Night after night of sauce preparation on a grading scale, lead me to uncertainty as to how I could dodge stammering questions of what exactly happened to my previous pesto recipe.
Now being at a safe distance of about 7,000 miles from anyone that knew me or my pesto sauce previously, I would venture in to the world of basil and pine nuts once again.
Conceivably it could have been my estranged past that lead me to heave my ingredients into the large wooden mortar and pestle; leaving my modern blender to collect the day's dust. I knew this time there would be no doubt of the authenticity of my sauce. I do not necessarily encourage this technique if your not entirely quilt stricken, the good old trusty electricity makes this a much more manageable feast.
The beautiful thing about pesto is that it can coat any noodle, grilled vegetable, chicken or seafood with massive integrity. Each dignified flavor melts perfectly into one another, leaving out the need for any additional fuss. I like to make up a big batch and throw it all into the freezer for future use.
Whether it is just for two or for a large dinner party, I know that I will never have to ponder over the How-To's of smuggling bottles of prepackaged pesto sauce.
Fresh Basil Pesto with Arugula & Soba Noodles
The basil found locally is not the dignified Sweet Basil varietal that is utilized in Italian pestos.
After a little light research on the foliage it is my guess that it's the Spicy Globe variety. Which has a bit more of a black pepper essence, but once it's all whirled up with garlic, extra virgin olive oil and quality parmesan cheese it's hard to detect any difference.
Basil Pesto:
Serves 2 good sized portions
Fresh basil leaves 100gr ( 1/4 cup)
Garlic 20gr ( 1.5 Tbs)
Olive Oil 150gr ( 1/2 cup)
Pine nuts, toasted 40gr ( 3 Tbs)
Parmesan cheese, grated 40gr ( 3 Tbs)
Lemon juice 10gr ( 2 Tbs)
Salt, to taste
Fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
Combine the ingredients together inside a blender or weapon of choice. Blend till all ingredients are broken down, but I still like a little texture to mine rather than completely all pureed.
Boil about 100gr ( 3.5 oz ) of soba noodles per person. Soba noodles are similar to spaghetti and made from buckwheat, I like their hearty flavor.
Once boiled add to a saute pan along with enough pesto sauce to coat all the noodles. Add a handful of arugula leaves and allow a low flame to heat the the sauce slightly and wilt the leaves. Pesto sauce should not be brought up to a boil for the flavors are best when still in a raw state.
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