International Day of Italian Cuisine: Pesto!

On January 17th a lot of people around the world will be feeling pretty green.  Not with envy, and hopefully not from nausea, but because this day will be a global celebration of Pesto for  the 4th  year of the International Day of Italian Cuisine.

Pesto Genovese is a very simple and potent sauce made primarily of fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil, parmesan cheese or grana padano cheese, and either pine nut or walnuts.  There’s no limit to the variations on this line-up however, sometimes including ricotta, more/less garlic, etc.  It’s a sort of “raw” sauce, in that it is not cooked but added to pasta directly as is.  Like a lot of really great dishes eaten present day, in the past pasta alla Genovese (with pesto) was associated as a poorer working class meal.

International Day of Italian Cuisine (IDIC) is actually a global celebration of the tastiest part of Italian culture, and so far has been pretty successful with some thousands of restaurants on some 40 countries participating.  The past years star foods were Pasta alla Carbonara, Risotto alla Milanese, and Tagliatelle al Ragu’ Bolognese.

Pesto gets its name from the Latin word for “pestle” and the verb “pestare” (to crush something with a pestle).  Traditionally the sauce is made using a pestle and a mortar (and not pushing a button on a food processor).

For probably more information than you ever needed to know on Pesto, including history, recipes and a listing of some participating restaurants around the world, take a look at the itchefs’ (virtual Italian chef’s community) comprehensive page on the event!