What a Pesto is?
When people hear about Pesto they think about Basil Pesto. It’s the most famous of course, pesto from Liguria made by Basil, Olive Oil, Pine nuts and Parmigiano.
But Pesto in Italian language is also a verb, “pestare” to grind. If we start for this we can understand why pesto can be done with a lot of different ingredients. Using the same base made by Aromatic Herbs, Olive Oil, Nuts and cheese we can create a different kind of Pesto.
Nepetella Pesto
Going down this morning we found a lot of this wild aromatic herb, here in Sicily called Nepetella, Nepeta, Nepita. Different names for the same herb officially called Clinopodium Nepeta. Coming from the mint family it is less fresh but hotter than the conventional Mint. A good base to create a new Pesto!
Other Ingredients
And now, what kind of cheese? In Sicily we are, so find some good pecorino or a Caciocavallo from Ragusa area is not so difficult, and leaving in one of the most famous places for high-quality almonds: Romana, Pizzuta, Fascionello. Old Sicilian varieties of almonds surround us, so adding these to Nepetella, Extravirgin Olive Oil, Pecorino we are going to have another Pesto. How it taste?
