Somehow, throughout the entire excursion of my Italian cooking, I had never tried nor wrote about making pesto. I had written countless words about tomato sauce and everything there is to know about pomodoré, but not one about pesto. Maybe because pesto is not mainstream here, which is weird since pesto is an integral part of Italian dishes, especially if one is talking about pasta. It has been embedded into the eating culture of Italians, sort of like what sambal belacan is to the Malays, where one would consider a meal as incomplete without it. Somehow not many people here know about it, heck, if one were to dine in an Italian joint, or any restaurant serving pasta as one of its menu, one can hardly find any pasta dish incorporated with pesto as its sauce.

I had prepared pesto many times before and though nowadays you can easily find ready-made pesto in most supermart and hypermat, they can never beat the taste of fresh home-made one even when it is stored or frozen.

Borrowing the exact description of pesto from Wikipedia, it is a sauce originating in Genoa in the northern region of Italy (pesto alla genovese). The name is derived from the Italian word pestâ ("to pound, to crush", from the same Latin root as the English word pestle), in reference to the sauce's crushed herbs and garlic.  The basic ingredients of a pesto is obviously herbs (most common is basil) which are washed, dried, put in the mortar with garlic and salt, and crushed to a creamy consistency with pine nuts, bounded together with olive oil and cheese. Since pine nuts is not a common ingredient one can easily find in our local supermart or hypermart shelves, walnuts is our only best bet for substitute. Stored in a tight jar, or simply in an air-tight plastic container, pesto can last in the refrigerator up to a week and can also be frozen.

Though traditionally pesto is always served with pasta, there are many other uses of pesto to accompany your favourite dishes. You can also use it as dipping sauce, and it goes well together with your roasted chicken, grilled seafood, fishes, and combined as recipes for other delicacies (which I will write about it later perhaps)

Ingredients (Serves approx. 4)
a clove of garlic
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 handfuls of fresh basil, leaves picked and chopped
a handful of pine nuts, very lightly toasted
a handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
extra virgin olive oil

Pound the garlic with a little pinch of salt and the basil leaves in a pestle and mortar, or pulse in a food processor. Add the pine nuts to the mixture and pound again. Transfer to a bowl and add half of the Parmesan (note that if you want to freeze the pesto you make, omit the cheese since it doesn't freeze well. When you want to use, defrost and only then add in the cheese). Stir gently and add the olive oil-you need just enough to bind the sauce and get it to an oozy consistency.

Season to taste, then add most of the remaining cheese. Pour in some more oil and taste again. Keep adding a bit more cheese or oil until you're happy with the taste and consistency. Optionally, you may like to add a squeeze of lemon juice to give it a little twang, but it's not essential. Try it with and without to see which one suit your taste