A Pesto for the Rest of Us
A well-made pesto will always hold a special place in my heart. Perhaps it’s because it was one of the first sauces I learned to make from scratch, but more likely it’s the instant gratification of making a sauce that comes together so quickly with just a few ingredients. It’s also nice when the basil you grow at home can be the star rather than the backup singer, i.e. garnish for a dish.
Hawai‘i’s year-round growing season gives us access to quality fresh herbs — the critical ingredient to a good pesto — throughout the year. No “saving the last of summer in a jar” angst here, so why not make a batch?
Pesto is a sauce of finely ground herbs mixed with olive oil, cheese and nuts, the most traditional and well-known is a combination of sweet basil, pine nuts and garlic. The OG technique is to use a pestle and mortar to grind the ingredients together, pestare in Italian means to pound or grind. However, many if not most, cooks use a food processor and while the end result might not be quite as bright and juicy, it’s still amazing and shouldn’t stop you from making this simple sauce.
“But if you’re up for a little tricep workout, the results can be mind blowing,” says The Ritz-Carlton Maui chef Donovan Foster who recalled the time his mentor, two-star Michelin chef Nicola Pignatelli, executive chef of the Italy-based Don Alfonso restaurant group made him a simple pesto by finely grinding fresh basil leaves by hand and working in the toasted pine nuts.
“You definitely get something more by putting in a little elbow grease instead of pushing a button on a food processor,” says Foster. “You’ll lose a little bit of that fresh brightness from the food processor method because it brings a little heat (temperature) and there’s that something extra about putting in the hand work,” says Foster, who after graduating from college in 2018 and working in the kitchen at Casa Don Alfonso at The Ritz-Carlton in St. Louis came to The Ritz-Carlton Maui for a short stint. But he fell madly in love with the island and Foster says he “packed his entire apartment and life overnight” to make a permanent move to Maui.
A voracious reader, who’s game to read anything related to food, he says the hotel’s commitment to innovation is what keeps him excited and thinking of new recipes and ideas. His take on a nontraditional pesto uses sun-dried tomatoes and pistachios and is served over an egg on toast. Other nontraditional plays on pesto include blending fresh shiso leaves, a little grated ginger and sesame oil. This is wonderful served over sashimi or tofu topped with a little green onion.
Whether you go the arm-workout route or opt for a food processor, keeping a jar of fresh pesto on hand is a simple and quick way to level up your pasta salad — think peas and pesto with black olives. Or add a generous dollop to steamed fish. When making a pasta with pesto sauce, to maintain flavor brightness, don’t add the pesto to the pan, add it to the warm pasta after you’ve transferred it to a serving dish.
Marcella Hazan, the grand dame of Italian cooking, adds butter to the pasta after mixing in the pesto. She also says you can freeze pesto in ice cube trays before adding the cheese. I like to make a large batch of pesto and freeze in a plastic bag laid flat to make a thin layer. Once frozen, I save space in my too crowded freezer by storing upright. The thin layer makes it easy to break off a piece for a quick meal.
Get your arms in sleeveless attire shape and play with your pesto!
CHEF DONOVAN’S SUN-DRIED TOMATO PESTO
Ingredients:
1 cup sun dried tomatoes, packed in olive oil, chopped
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup pistachios
1 cup parmesan cheese
2 garlic cloves
Salt and chili flakes to taste
Blend by hand or in a food processor until creamy with a few chunks remaining. Serve over a poached egg on toast.