copyright 2009, Maria Liberati

Plant and herb lovers will tell you that now is the perfect time to pick basil leaves. And chefs will tell you that they’re the ideal size to be chopped up and put into your favorite dishes. Famous Recipes is here to tell you the history of pesto, a delicious sauce where basil plays the most important role.

The term pesto comes from the verb meaning “to pound” or “to crush”. The earliest known recorded version of pesto comes from Roman poet Virgil’s (70 – 19 BCE) Bucoliche. Virgil writes of a similar Roman sauce called moretum. But the sauce alluded to in this epic is not quite the pesto we know today because it didn’t have the most essential ingredient: basil. Basil wasn’t officially added to the recipe until the mid 19^th Century after the plant had been introduced to Europe and found a perfect home in the Liguria region of Italy’s northwest.

After the basil was added, the recipe became extremely more complex. According to the Basil Park in Genova Pra (http://parco-basilico.provincia.genova.it/eng/Index_PBP.html), an Italian website devoted to making the most of Genoa’s most famous food, “For centuries basil was attributed magical virtues in addition to the properties that made it so valuable in the kitchen, so that it had to be gathered in accordance with sacred, codified rituals.” This is why many older recipes will call for hand mixing the leaves in special dishes. A more scientific assumption says that basil helps with ailments such as skin disease and intestinal trouble. But interestingly enough, basil plants can be affected by any number of factors including the time of day of harvest. Whether or not there is any truth behind the medicinal or magical properties of basil, however, is immaterial. A lover of fine Italian foods will tell you that its greatest quality is its taste. And pesto is a solid example of this.

Pesto

2 ½ Cups Basil

½ Cups Olive Oil

2 Tbsp Pine Nuts

2 Cloves Garlic, peeled and crushed

½ Cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

2 Tbsp Pecorino-Romano cheese

Bit of pepper

In a food processor, put olive oil, pepper, basil, nuts, and garlic. Process until just blended.

Put mixture in bowl and whisk in cheese.

For more great recipes and tips get your copy of the best selling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati at http://www.marialiberati.com and got to http://www.marialiberati.com/blog2

 Copyright, 2008, Maria Liberati

The Basic Art of Italian Cooking

http://www.marialiberati.com/

http://www.marialiberati.com/blog2

A crowd pleaser on the menu in most Italian restaurants is fettuccini alfredo, a deliciously creamy mixture of fettuccini, cream, butter, and cheese. Although this dish is most certainly mouth watering, it is also waistline expanding, as it contains an astronomical amount of calories and little nutritional value. While most people who mind their cholesterol and do their best to maintain their bikini body would not dream of indulging in such a dieting disaster for a meal, there are healthy alternatives to make this Italian classic approachable for all dinners. The diet friendly version may not be offered in many dinning establishments, but within the comfort of your own home, this Italian favorite can be lighter and healthier. For example, using whole-wheat fettuccini makes the dish rich in fiber, while adding chicken and broccoli boosts the protein content and helps to make it a well-rounded meal. So the next time you’re craving some comfort food, but would still like to button your jeans, try this healthy version of the classic fettuccini alfredo,makes a great Sunday dinner.

Healthy Fettucini Alfredo

1 lb whole wheat fettuccini alfredo

1 lb chicken tenders(or chicken-soy based substitute)

2 heads of broccoli

2 tblsps butter

1 pint of fat free half-and-half

1 cup pecorino romano cheese

Boil water and add fettuccini. Cook until al dente

Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then sauté in olive oil. Once cooked, drain the oil, add the butter and half-and-half. Pour everything over the fettuccini.

Steam the broccoli for 4 minutes and add to the mixture once the pasta is cooked. Add black pepper to taste.

‘Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene’

Maria

For more recipes get your copy of the best selling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at http://www.marialiberati.com

Copyright, 2008, Maria Liberati

The Basic Art of Italian Cooking

http://www.marialiberati.com

http://www.marialiberati.com/blog2

Editor: Joseph McVeigh

Basil: a kingly herb?

Basil is a widely used herb in the Italian cuisine, a little bit like parsley: you can put it almost in every dish of pasta, risotto, sauces, pizza, decoration of cold dishes… Apart from that, it is also grown in pots and kept on window-sills throughout the summer as a remedy against mosquitoes. Its fragrance and perfume keep them away (this is a quality this herb shares with citronella, a tropical grass with lemon-scented leaves, which is cultivated in Italy, too. We’re becoming a tropical country, with the weather changing so much and growing hotter and hotter…)

Its name derives from the Latin word basilicum, coming in its turn from the Greek adjective βασιλικός, meaning kingly, as the dictionary says (M. Cortelazzo, P. Zolli, Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, Zanichelli, Bologna 1979, s.v.). So, it has always been considered a very fine herb, suitable for kings and queens.

Basil is native of tropical Asia, probably India, where it is still considered a holy herb, and planted near temples. It was then spread into Europe and Italians, in the past, considered it a symbol of love. Women in search of fiancé used to put a basil pot on their window-sill to wait for true love.

It was very soon used in the kitchen: the Roman Apicio (25 BC- 37 AD ?), famous for his cooking ability, wrote in his De re coquinaria a recipe including basil to flavour peas.

References to basil can be found in poetry, prose and art from the Middle Ages to the present. In Italy, G. Boccaccio (1313-1375) wrote about basil: in his Decameron (4thy day, fifth novella), he told the sad story of two lovers, Lisabetta da Messina and Lorenzo. Her brothers, not approving of their affair, killed the young man. In a dream, Lisabetta saw where her lover had been buried, went there and with the help of a faithful servant cut the head from the body and, when at home, put it into a large pot and planted basil in it. Basil grew wonderfully as it was daily watered by Lisabetta’s tears.

The English romantic poets P. B. Shelley (1792-1822) and John Keats (1795-1821) both wrote about basil in their poems. Shelley mentioned it in his To Emilia Viviani:

Madonna, wherefore hast thou sent to me
Sweet-basil and mignonette?
Embleming love and health, which never yet
In the same wreath might be.

and Keats retold the story by Boccaccio in his poem Isabella, or the Pot of Basil.

Let’s end with the recipe for the famous pesto alla genovese. What you need for 6 people is: abundant basil fresh leaves (about two handfuls), grated Parmesan cheese (3 tblsps), 1 clove (of garlic), a glass of extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of salt, pine nuts (1 tblsp). Chop garlic and basil very finely (add a little bit of salt, so that the leaves will keep their brilliant green), put them into the mortar and keep crushing adding oil, Parmesan, pine nuts little by little (the Italian name pesto comes from the verb pestare = to crush something in a mortar) until you get a creamy, green sauce; add some salt to taste. Being people living in the 21^st century and, as such, with no much time to spare, I suggest putting all the ingredients together in the mixer and mix until ready. If you want to make it lighter and more digestible, prepare it without garlic and pine nuts.

You can season pasta with it (remember to thin it with one/two tablespoons of the boiling water in which pasta is being cooked); if you use it for boiled meat or fish you should dilute it with a little bit of vinegar.

And, very quickly, to prepare a nice colourful dish: peel and cut four potatoes into small cubes, wash and cut 1 pound of green beans, put everything into a large pan, cover with water, and cook over medium heat until the vegetables are soft. Drain and season with your newly home-made pesto!

For more great recipes, get your copy of the best selling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati at http://www.marialiberati.com and visit http://www.marialiberati.com/blog2