I’ve been experimenting with different pestos lately and am really enjoying it. They’re easy to make, pack a ton of flavor, and it turns out there’s a ton of variation. This was one of my recent favorites.
As a note, when I looked up these recipes, there seem to be two different lineages that claim to be Calabrian pesto. This is one version I found, which is made from red bell peppers, onion, tomato, and ricotta. There’s another, completely different version, which involves almonds and sun dried tomatoes. I have no clue if one of these is more authentic than the other, I’m just going to tell you what I did.
Ingredients
4 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 serrano peppers, chopped
4-6 cloves garlic, peeled
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1 large or two small red bell peppers, seeded and chopped
4 roma tomatoes, chopped
1-2 handfuls fresh basil leaves. For me it came to about 1 packed cup of leaves
1-2 tsp fresh oregano (can use dried oregano if you want)
2 ounces fresh grated parmesan
8 ounces ricotta cheese
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 pound pasta, for serving. Something like rigatoni works well.
Directions
Add the oil, garlic, and serrano peppers to a pan and heat over medium until the peppers and garlic are sizzling. Add a generous pinch of salt to the pan, then add the onions and saute for five minutes or so until softened, then add the bell peppers, stir everything up, and saute another five minutes until the peppers are softened too. Add the tomatoes and saute, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes are softened and you can smash them with the back of a spoon. This should take about 15 minutes. You should have a lot of juice in the pan, that’s completely fine, you’re going to use it all.
Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the basil and oregano and let cool for ten or fifteen minutes. Transfer the contents of the pan to a food processor or blender and puree until smooth, then add the ricotta and parmesan. Salt to taste (it took a surprising amount of salt for me) and add to your pasta, stirring to combine. Congratulations! You have dinner!
This amount worked really well for a pound of pasta. Use something like rigatoni or cavatappi, something that really picks up the sauce. I also stirred in a drained can of cannellini beans to get some protein in there, and it’s a really great, simple dinner. Enjoy!
eatbensmeat 