Pesto is a thick, paste-like sauce that’s made with lots of basil, pine nuts and a variety of cheeses. I’ve been exploring and experimenting with different options to try to find my favorite one. When I make pasta with pesto, I like to use fusilli (spiral shaped noodles) which have a twist in them. I think the special spiral shape holds onto the pesto best!
Many foods are different in the other regions of Italy, including pesto. I like pesto genoese (pesto from Genoa), a city in northern Italy. Spaghetti alla Corte d’Assise is a new type of tomato sauce- it has spicy peppers added! It’s unique to Calabria. Parmesan cheese is originally from Parma, a city in central Italy. Many foods are named after the place they come from originally.
Spaghetti alla Corte d’Assise was invented in a town called Marina di Gioiosa Ionica, just a few miles away from where I live. All of the ingredients can be grown in this area. The original recipe says that the peppers have to be from Calabria! A lot of traditional Calabrian food is spicy, because peppers grow well here. Corte d’Assise wasn’t the first spicy dish I had in Calabria, but it has become my favorite. You can conveniently buy jars of it at the grocery store, but I want to learn to make it myself.
Olives, lemons, and pistachios are all common in the south of Italy. Olive oil is used in almost everything I make at home. There is a whole section in the grocery store dedicated to it! Many of these foods have been part of Italian cuisine since ancient times.
