Ingredients
20g garlic
20g macadamia nuts
20g pine nuts
20g pecorino
30g parmesan
Salt, to taste
60g basil
90g extra virgin olive oil
400g pasta, cooked al dente
Recipe by: Alessandro Pavoni
Photography by: John Paul Urizar
Styling by: Michaela Le Compte
Method
1. Remove the core from garlic and blanch in cold water 3 times
2. Toast macadamia and pine nuts in perforated tray at 130ºC for 20 minutes.
3. Grate and combine pecorino and parmesan.
4. With a large mortar and pestle, add toasted pine nuts, macadamia nuts and garlic in the mortar and smash with the pestle, finishing with a circular movement
5. Once the nuts and garlic become a paste, add salt and basil inside the mortar (salt will help crush the basil). Hammer in a circular movement, scrape and repeat for about 15 minutes. Once all the above ingredients are perfectly smashed, add the 2 cheeses into the mortar and mix – this well help make the pesto creamy.
6. Once all combined, add the extra virgin olive oil very gently, and mix with a spoon – the oil will help prevent the oxidation of the pesto.
7. Add just-cooked al dente pasta inside the mortar and mix with the pesto, making sure you combine every bit of sauce available. Serve from mortar to bowl.
Wine Match:
Pinot Grigio or Vermentino