The Pizza Therapy Forum and Pasta Therapy Forum

[pizza]

Often forgotten - truly versatile - VERY HEALTHY

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All you need is large pestle and mortar (it tastes so much better than preparing in a food blender)
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100gr Parmesan Reggiano
1 x heaped teaspoon of salt
20-30gr of pine nuts - roasted if you like (these are optional)
2-3 cloves of fresh garlic (or supermarket variety) peeled and halfed
4 cups of tightly packed washed and drained basil leaves (the large cabbage leaf is good)
Extra Virgin Olive oil

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In this order place the ingredients into the mortar (grinding bowl) - salt - garlic cloves - half the basil leaves - half the parmesan broken into pieces - rest of the basil - rest of the parmesan - half of the pine nuts.

Now get pounding - this will take around 10-15mins to get just right - the mixture should end up like a smooth thick tacky paste with as little lumps as possible. Add in the rest of the pine nuts and break them a little. Now spoon the mixture into a serving bowl (I use a medium sized glass tuperware box so it stores well) - with the back of the spoon press it down to fill the bowl.

Now pour about a cup of olive oil over it and gently mix the paste into the oil. Don't be shy with the olive oil. The end product should drip nicely of the spoon - and have a vibrant green colour - you may wish to add a little more salt to taste.

Add to pasta - to pizzas, or on it's own. It's very nice on a fresh oven warm ciabatta with a few anchovies or melted mozzarella - Simply it is one if not THE best italian recipes EVER - and extremely healthy to boot.

Enjoy - PS Albert thanks for the great insight to pizzas it has helped me get closer to the perfect pizza.
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