No.75 The 100 Most Popular Recipes Ever · October 2026

Pesto alla Genovese

Made famous by The Silver Spoon

Photo: AlfonsoLucifredi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

From Il cucchiaio d'argento, 1950; The Silver Spoon (English), 2005.

Liguria's basil sauce went around the world in the 1980s and is still one of the most made sauces at home. This is the classic way, with potatoes and green beans in the pot.

Written in our own words and tested in a home kitchen. Get the original in The Silver Spoon.

Ingredients

• 2 cups (about 50 g) packed fresh basil leaves, young and small if you can find them
• 1 small garlic clove
• 2 tbsp pine nuts
• Pinch of coarse salt
• 1/3 cup (30 g) finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 2 tbsp finely grated Pecorino Sardo or Pecorino Romano
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) mild extra-virgin olive oil, Ligurian if possible
• 1 lb (450 g) trofie, trenette or linguine
• 1 medium waxy potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 4 oz (115 g) green beans, trimmed and cut in thirds

Steps

1. Rinse the basil and dry it completely on a towel. Wet leaves turn the pesto dark.
2. In a mortar, pound the garlic with the salt to a paste. Add the pine nuts and pound until smooth.
3. Add the basil a handful at a time and grind it against the side of the mortar with a circular motion, not hammering, until it's a bright green paste. (In a food processor, pulse everything except the cheese and oil, then add the oil in a stream. Don't let it run long or it heats and darkens.)
4. Stir in both cheeses, then the olive oil a little at a time until smooth and loose.
5. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the potato and pasta together (for trofie; for linguine add the potato 5 minutes earlier). Add the green beans 5 minutes before the pasta is done.
6. Before draining, mix 2 tbsp of the cooking water into the pesto. Drain, then toss the pasta, potato and beans with the pesto off the heat. Never cook pesto; the heat turns it bitter. Serve at once.

Chef's tips

• Keep leftovers under a thin layer of oil in the fridge, up to 3 days.
• Freeze it without the cheese and stir the cheese in when it thaws.

This is Chef Amazing's write-up of the dish, tested for a home kitchen. The original is in The Silver Spoon by Phaidon: get the book, No. 6 on The 100 Greatest Cookbooks.

← No. 74Bolognese Meat Sauce→ No. 76Risotto with Parmesan (Risotto alla Parmigiana)