We owe a lot to Italy: the romanticization of summer in Tuscany, the pasta, the Italian-American culture of The Godfather and Jersey Shore and, among many other things, the pesto. It is probably one of the most well-known sauces in the world: you can find it in all the formats available and to be found, in any supermarket or gastronomic establishment (we will talk about the qualities another day). Everyone knows that pesto is made with basil, olive oil, pine nuts, cheese, and garlic; What may not be so widely known is that ‘pesto’ actually describes any sauce that is made by pounding and mashing in a mortar.
Based on what the generic term ‘pesto’ implies, we are going to make one with whole lemon; To prevent the bitterness from taking center stage, we will cook them in boiling water for an hour and a half or two, depending on the size of the lemons you have. We are looking for a soft lemon, which breaks easily when applying a little pressure; Once we have it, we will cut it, crush it or crush it with garlic, cheese, pine nuts, ginger, oil, salt and a pinch of sugar to balance. The result will be a perfect citrus sauce for all kinds of foods. As it admits all kinds of preparations – blender, mincer, mortar, etc – don’t expect a completely homogeneous sauce; in fact, it will resemble mayonnaise from the emulsion.
To accompany this sauce we are going to mark some lettuce buds over high heat, to which we will add any sweet and sour fruit that we have on hand and we will dress with a little soy sauce, chili peppers and the lemon pesto. What we have left of pesto, to the refrigerator, which will hold us great for a couple of weeks.
Difficulty
It takes some time for the lemons, but you can leave them cooked overnight.
Ingredients
For the sauce
- 150 g whole lemon
- The juice of half a fresh lemon
- 50 g pine nuts
- 40 g grated pecorino
- 1 clove garlic
- 10 g fresh ginger
- 100 ml of mild olive oil
- 150 ml of the water in which we have cooked the lemons
- 1 teaspoon of level salt
- Half a teaspoon of sugar
For the salad
- 2 lettuce buds
- 1 shallot
- 1 jalapeno
- Half a nectarine
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of water
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
Preparation
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Clean the lemons, cut the tips and boil them in a saucepan for an hour and a half or two (with a lid), until they are completely tender. Reserve about 200 ml of the cooking water and remove the lemons to cool.
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Cut the lemons in half and remove the seeds.
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In a food processor, mixer or mortar, add a crushed garlic clove, ginger, pine nuts, lemons, pecorino, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and sugar. Add water little by little until you get a sauce consistency. Season with salt and refrigerate.
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Cut the buds in half and cook them on the cut side on a griddle over high heat. Remove them when they are marked.
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Mix the soy sauce, water and olive oil. Cut the nectarine (or any other fruit), the shallot and the jalapeño.
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Plate the buds by dressing them with the prepared soy sauce. Add the lemon pesto, nectarine, shallot and jalapeño and serve.
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