Andy Makes BA's Best Pesto

No, there's no way,

there's no way I'm the oldest.

There's no way.

No.

[upbeat music]

After almost 60 something years,

66 years, I don't know the exact number,

how long Bon Appetit has been around, sorry.

I bet the majority of the staff doesn't know either.

We did not have like a proper classic pesto recipe.

We had a lot of variations,

or if we did have a pesto recipe it kind

of just got lost in the archives.

So I came up with one,

I have a lot of opinions on pesto,

I've done a lot of variations on pesto

but this is pesto Genovese.

Which is reference to where pesto originates.

Which in Genoa

which is the capitol

of the Liguria region of Italy.

And I'm gonna show you how to make it two ways.

First.

I don't know.

First I think I'm gonna go with the food processor.

Who knows I'm like.

[laughing]

First I'm gonna go with a mortar and pestle

and then I'm gonna go with the food processor.

My pine nuts here.

This is a third cup pine nuts.

I'm gonna toast them.

This is at 300 but just watch it.

Okay I think you want a pestle,

I wouldn't go any smaller than this otherwise

it's just gonna take you a long time.

I imagine these are the ones you would find in Italy.

A marble base, or mortar

and then olive wood pestle.

First we're going to take two cloves of garlic.

And then we're just gonna give it a little,

get in here, get in here,

you have to like,

I feel like overhead is the way to go here.

So I'm just gonna give it a little pound.

Like that.

I'm gonna add a touch of salt.

So it acts as an abrasive then.

[pestle tapping]

So already you're just crushing the garlic.

And you want it to get to a really fine paste

before you add the next ingredient.

[pestle tapping]

Now we need the pine nuts.

I took, I take them to like a golden place,

not too too dark.

They're really nice looking.

And then,

they're so God damn delicious

and we don't use pine nuts enough in this kitchen.

So I'm just gonna pour all of it,

all the pine nuts.

But they're still a little warm

which is why I'm using a kitchen towel

so I'm just gonna go and start crushing.

I'm not gonna go too crazy right now so

the nuts will stay in the mortar.

And you're just gonna go around

and just pound it like you would.

Yeah, a mojito, yes.

The way you would do a mojito.

Exactly like you would a mojito.

You want it to just look like

a kind of a paste like.

Next we're going to work in the basil leaves.

We're gonna have to do this

in batches I think 'cause this mortar isn't that big.

So I'm just going to throw in like

a third of this.

All right whole leaves.

Okay what's happening here is kind of amazing.

Get over here.

I have to say it kind of looks amazing

in order to kind of get the overhead shot.

You can see how it still a kind

of a rough mixture happening.

The water and the oils are being released from the basil.

Now I'm gonna keep smashing this down until

the basil is really finely ground.

I'm gonna add a touch of salt towards this end

rather than earlier,

granted I haven't done this before

but just from what I know,

I don't add it too early

so it doesn't kind of darken the basil too much.

I'm adding it in now just

to kind of help break it up.

We're getting there.

Parmesan cheese.

[pestle tapping]

I think we're getting there.

This is where we're at,

were gonna stream in the oil.

We're gonna see,

we're just gonna do a side by side.

Learning as we go.

I'm just gonna pour maybe a third of this.

I'm using three quarters

of a cup of olive oil.

I think we're getting there.

And this is less of a pounding motion

and this is more of a just swirling around.

I think we're getting there.

Four hours later.

Okay another, a little more oil.

Looking really creamy now.

It's a little bit more,

a little bit more leafy than I would like.

Okay I'm gonna just put this aside.

I'm gonna quickly make a food processor one

and see how that goes.

Okay I'm gonna grate some garlic.

I just give it a head start with a micro plane

so that there won't be any big pieces.

I'm gonna add the pine nuts here.

And just grind it to a paste.

That looks good.

I'm gonna add the cheese.

Different order than I did with the mortar and pestle.

But this is the way that we test it out.

And I just kind of wanted

to get everything combined before I added the basil.

Looking for it

to kind of come together to a paste

or not a paste but just like you'll see how it gets more

and more coarse.

Completely broken down.

That's nice,

next I'm gonna add all the basil.

A teaspoon of salt.

You already have the salted cheese.

And then I'm just gonna pour

the oil and turn this on.

What?

I have two versions.

Yeah the mortar and pestle though is

a little bit too much work.

Okay I am going to admit,

I'm gonna take some fault.

I should have maybe practiced with

a mortar and pestle beforehand

but I really just wanted to try it

in front of you guys without ever having done it

and I have so many mortar and pestles at home.

But I've never made pesto.

I definitely got a darker color

not nearly as creamy as this.

But I'm gonna keep experimenting

and figure out what is the right order of operations.

Really like just night and day over here right?

Which one do you want to eat?

The first one we did was in a mortar and pestle.

Definitely not the texture

that I would be striving for.

I wanted it to be more creamy.

All the ingredients integrated.

Ah basil completely broken down.

Have a really nice bright green color.

I didn't do that.

So I'm gonna taste this.

I have to say it tastes very,

very delicious.

It's definitely ugly but delicious.

Next, I'll try this.

So this is the pesto made in the food processor.

Obviously it looks very different.

Definitely have a brighter green color to it.

I'm gonna get a new spoon.

It's definitely more satisfying

in the mouth.

Again I think you could definitely do this

in a mortar and pestle.

We're gonna boil some pasta.

My preferred is Casarecchi,

I love this pasta shape.

Slightly curled and wavy

and they're just perfect for catching the sauce.

I'm gonna drop the pasta.

This is obviously salted pasta water.

That was at a boil.

Okay I'm gonna drop that down,

give it a shake.

Give it a stir.

And we're gonna cook that aldente.

I never ever cook spaghetti.

It's not my, what?

[Man] I said this is good television

We're gonna drop

this into boiling water.

So I want to talk a little bit about the pasta.

What you do is you cook

the pasta 'till aldente and you just add it to a bowl

because the pesto doesn't need to cook.

It's already it's a,

it's a cold sauce

that will just be heated

from the residual heat of the pasta

and a little bit of pasta water, dah.

I'm gonna grab some pasta water.

Just grab a cup for now.

Okay spaghetti seems

to be done first.

Gonna pull this up over here.

Okay so this is a bit of a,

this is definitely not traditional.

And you don't have to put it in

and that's totally fine.

I like to finish my pesto with a bit of butter,

just a touch.

So each of these are gonna get two tablespoons of butter,

I'm just gonna cut it into pieces

so that it can melt quickly.

I'm gonna add with a bit of pasta water.

I would go just a quarter cup.

It smells very, very good.

Ah.

It's easier to handle.

A spoon, add our butter.

Then give it a toss.

Look at that.

This doesn't need as much pasta water.

I find long pastas need

a touch more pasta water than their shorter cousins.

Maybe just two tablespoons.

I love how it coats the pasta,

this is a beautiful shape.

That's that,

look at that it looks so pretty.

Look at that Chris,

that's nice.

[Man] Lesson learned, food processor.

That was a lot,

that was a big experience.

I'm gonna stick with my food processor method.

I'm gonna now give this a try.

This is the recipe on bonappetit.com.

The thing what I love

about this recipe it's

so balanced between the pine nuts, the cheese,

the basil, the oil, the garlic.

And it comes together fairly quickly,

maybe two, three minutes in a food processor.

That's my take on pesto Genovese.

No seriously make it.