Bonus Recipe: Massimo Bottura Shares Pesto

The basil harvest is in and I used a fraction to make pesto.

With respect to nut allergy, we don't use pine nuts and I prefer the pesto without mint or thyme, but include Bottura's recipe. I use generic grated Parmesan cheese. Last time I checked (awhile ago) Parmegiano-Reggiano was over $20 a pound, so this is a bit more economical. 

His restaurant in Northern Italy was voted the best in the world.

This was his grandmother's recipe. He recommends fusilli as the pesto adheres to the shape better. 

INGREDIENTS 

• Kosher salt 
• 14 ounces (400 grams) dried fusilli pasta 
• 1 garlic clove 
• 8¾ ounces (250 grams) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more 
• 3 cups lightly packed basil leaves 
• 1 bunch mint 
• 1 thyme branch 
• 2½ ounces (75 grams) finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano 
• 3½ ounces (100 grams) freshly ground bread crumbs 

1 Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and season liberally with salt. Add the fusilli to the water and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, about eight minutes. 

2 Make the pesto. While the pasta is cooking, make the pesto sauce: Halve the garlic clove and rub its cut sides along the inside of your blender. Pour in the olive oil, then add the basil. Strip the mint leaves from the stem, add the leaves to the blender, then add the stem to the boiling pasta water. Remove as many thyme leaves as you can from the branch, add them to the blender, then add the branch to the boiling water as well. Add half the Parmigiano and half the bread crumbs to the blender. With the blender on, slowly stream in ½ cup of ice-cold water, adding more water by the tablespoonful, until the sauce blends smooth