The famous Italian sauce "pesto", agewhich has more than two hundred years, is an indispensable seasoning for many dishes of Mediterranean cuisine, but it is especially tasty with spaghetti, rice risotto and ravioli. Unforgettable Mediterranean color and taste of the sauce is attached to the traditional Italian products that make up its composition. By the way, classic pesto sauce is made exclusively in marble or porcelain mortar, grinding its ingredients with a wooden pestle. Hence the name of the sauce, which comes from the verb pestare, which in Italian means "rubbing", "crushing". Modern housewives try to devote much less time to preparation of dishes, and the kitchens are now equipped with a variety of comfortable instruments designed to facilitate manual labor, so if desired, the mortar can be replaced with a blender or a meat grinder.

The most common recipe for a sauce consists ofgreen basil, pine nuts, parmesan, garlic, salt and olive oil. Some of these ingredients may vary. So, in some Italian areas, fresh or dried tomatoes are added to the sauce, hard parmesan cheese is supplemented with soft sheep. There are recipes without using nuts or recipes, where instead of pine nuts lay almonds. In addition to the classic ingredients, in the sauce add rucola, spinach, Greek or peanut, dill, etc. But the most obligatory and indispensable product is, of course, olive oil of cold pressing, without which real pesto sauce is impossible. With what do you eat this sauce? This, above all, traditional Italian dishes - spaghetti, ravioli and risotto. However, pesto sauce is an excellent partner for various vegetable, fish and meat dishes, as well as the most common side dish, it can turn into a self-sufficient delicious dish.

There are still many recipes where you canuse pesto sauce. With what do they eat classic pesto? It is often used for baking fish and meat dishes. For example, bake cod or salmon, putting the fish in a mold, and pour the sauce over the top. With what else do they eat? This sauce is very nicely marinated chicken, pieces of beef or pork, which are then baked in the oven. The meat becomes very tender and preserves all its juices during cooking. Very tasty meat dishes are obtained if a hot pesto sauce is spread on them before grilling them. With what do you eat this delicious seasoning? It is often used in sandwiches and snack cakes as a basis for meat or vegetable layers, as well as in pizza with tomatoes and cheese. Finally, in traditional warm Italian salads with pasta and seafood, seasoning is also used with pesto sauce. Its application is the widest, even plastered on a piece of bread, the sauce gives it a piquant and very original taste.

How to cook pesto sauce? The classic green sauce is made from basil leaves, pine nuts, which are taken in equal proportions, grated sheep cheese and parmesan cheese, a clove or two garlic, salt and olive oil, which is poured in the process of mixing all the constituents of the sauce in such a proportion that it does not turn out too much thick and not too liquid. All these products are mixed in a mortar or in a blender to the consistency of thick sour cream.

In the red sauce, add a little balsamicvinegar and dried or fresh tomatoes. All the ingredients are also mixed in a blender, add vinegar and olive oil to the desired consistency. The resulting red pesto is very suitable for Italian pasta, as well as for baked eggplants and meat.

The famous Italian sauce, which is quitedeservedly considered the property of this national cuisine, has long crossed the state borders and conquered the whole world. Therefore, we will also enjoy his taste and prepare a wide variety of dishes, using this magnificent sauce as a seasoning for them.