This Creamy Pesto Sauce Recipe is one of those dishes that separates the donne from the ragazze.
Cook (or garden) long enough and you’re sure to find yourself in midsummer with a load of fresh basil. At which time you will naturally try your hand at making a homemade creamy pesto sauce recipe. It’s just a few ingredients and, in theory, is super easy, so why not, right?
The Pursuit For A Creamy Pesto Sauce
To me, a creamy pesto sauce was one of those dishes that I could never quite make as delicious as in restaurants.
Like, say at The Factory Kitchen in Los Angeles where they made a name for themselves serving up Handkerchief Pasta with Creamy Pesto Sauce. Or at Da Laura in the small Ligurian village of San Fruttuoso (Liguria being the origin of basil pesto!) where the lasagnette al pesto has classic basil pesto sauces that are so silky they look like paint.
We can debate all day about the best way to make (in a mortar and pestle! with a food processor!) and serve pesto (on pasta! on a sandwich! as part of Chicken Parm!) but perfectly coating pasta is the way I dream of it.
So, here they are, my recipe for Mandilli di Seta, aka Handkerchief Pasta with Creamy Pesto Sauce (I mean, that name alone is phenom, no?).
Traditional Pasta Shapes For Creamy Basil Pesto
You could go in a lot of directions and shapes of pasta but I’m a fan of the three main ways you see pesto served in Liguria (aka ground zero for classic basil pesto).
Those classic pasta shapes are the spiraled trofie pasta, with the long trenette noodles, or with ultra-thin lasagna sheets (like they do at Da Laura) which are sometimes called mandilli di seta or silk handkerchiefs (love that name)!
There’s something about pesto served coating mandilli di seta (think sheets of pasta that are generally half the thickness of traditional lasagna sheets) that is totally luxurious. After the mandilli are coated in the pesto they’re then folded over on themselves so they look like a pile of green handkerchiefs when you serve them.
How To Make Creamy Pesto Sauce Without Cream
And, then there’s this pesto. If you know me, then you know I take great pride in this recipe. It took me years to crack the code on how to make such a creamy pesto sauce without cream. The tips?
Use This Non-Traditional Method (That Mimics The Traditional Method)
First I should clarify that this is not a traditional method. The ingredients in this creamy pesto sauce? Heck yes, they’re traditional. But the method is basically the opposite of every other recipe in terms of the order the ingredients are used.
The most traditional way to make pesto sauce is in a mortar and pestle and it’s a technique worth trying at least once. Here we’re making a pestos sauce more akin to the silky, smooth pesto sauces you’ll see in high-end restaurants.
Here are the keys:
- Use A Blender: Use a blender or food processor to make a more emulsified, creamier, and silkier sauce
- Make A “Nut Butter:” Start with the nuts and oil and make a loose sort “nut butter” that helps stabilize the mixture (ie keep it from separating)
- Add A Touch Of Water: Add some of the basil soaking water to further up the silkiness (ie the emulsification).
Don’t Heat The Sauce
Most important of all is that you never ever heat a homemade classic pesto sauce. Yes, there are plenty of recipes that call for doing this (probably even a few I wrote earlier on in my recipe developing life) but that just ends up totally working all the flavors in the delicate sauce.
Use the technique below for coating pasta (as in mixing it together in the cooking pan off the heat) and you’ll be rewarded with a creamy pesto sauce that stays bright green all the way to the table!
How To Serve This Pesto
The classic way to serve creamy pesto sauce is with pasta or, in Genoa, slathered on the local focaccia di Recco.
Of course, here in the states, you’ll also find pesto used as a condiment on sandwiches, as a sauce for grilled salmon or roasted chicken, or as a thicker dressing for roasted or grilled vegetables. None of those are traditional but they are delicious!
A Few Other Popular Sauces
The final question we get about this creamy pesto sauce is how to switch it up.
Yes, you could swap the nuts, herbs, or cheeses as you please to make Arugula-Walnut pesto, Almond Pesto, or even sundried tomatoes, basil, and almonds for a twist on the Sicilian red pesto.
But, honestly, at that point (especially if you’re using it more as a condiment), we usually just turn to one of these other pesto-like green sauces:
- Jalapeño Pistachio Pesto
- Green Harissa Sauce
- Cilantro-Herb Chutney
- German Green Sauce
- Italian Salsa Verde
Okay, now it’s time to stock up your pantry with all the essential ingredients, then try your hand at making this, and then share your creation with us by tagging @saltandwind and #swsociety on social!
{Mandilli di Seta} Silky Handkerchief Pasta with Creamy Basil Pesto Recipe
Ingredients
For The Creamy Basil Pesto:
- 4 cups fresh basil leaves no thick stems or buds (you'll need about 4 ounces of basil on the stems to get this about of leaves)
- 3/4 cup pine nuts
- 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic roughly chopped
- 1 pinch kosher salt plus more for pasta water
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese about 3 ounces
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese about 1 1/2 ounces
For The Pasta:
- 1 pound fresh lasagna sheets or mandilli di seta pasta (if you buy fresh lasagna, look for the thinnest you can find and trim them into 5-inch by 5-inch squares)
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, prepare the pesto.Â
- Make The Creamy Basil Pesto: Place basil in cold water and set aside to soak briefly, at least 5 minutes. Meanwhile, combine nuts, oil, garlic and salt in food processor or blender (the Vitamix is awesome for this) and process until mixture is very smooth and creamy (it should look like a loose peanut or almond butter). Drain soaked basil, shake off water but don’t pat dry (you want some of that water). Tear and place in food processor and process until just evenly combined and mixture is light green, about 5 pulses. Add cheese and just pulse until just combined, about 5 pulses more. If mixture is too thick, add a few spoonfuls of cold water and pulse again. Remove from carafe and taste. Add more salt, as desired, then go ahead and use the pesto.
- Make The Mandilli Di Seta Basil Pasta: One by one add the pasta squares to the boiling water and cook until just al dente, about 3 minutes (may be more or less depending on the thickness of the pasta).Meanwhile reserve about 1 cup of the pasta cooking water. Place 1 cup of the pesto in a large frying pan (do not place it on any heat). When the pasta squares are cooked remove them from the water using a perforated spoon then gently add them to the sauce (it's okay if the pasta sheets have water on them -- it'll help make the sauce coast the pasta well!). Stir gently to coat -- each sheet should be coated in the sauce and there should be enough sauce in the pan to just coat the bottom. If the mixture is dry, add a few spoonfuls of the reserved pasta cooking water. Once the pasta is ready, top with additional cheese and serve immediately.Makes 2 cups pesto (enough for 2 to 3 pounds of pasta)
