How To make the best pesto ever (and that's official)

We've got our mitts on the 1st Pesto World Championship's winning recipe!

One hundred people will battle it out with a pestle and mortar (not a blender in sight!) to make the best pesto sauce with the ingredients provided. Each contestant has 40 minutes to concoct the perfect sauce - judged on its colour, texture, smoothness and taste.

The current title holder, Luciana Parodi (see her picture and winning recipe below), learnt the art of pesto-making from her grandmother. Her top tip is: “Taste as you go to get a well-balanced sauce that doesn’t have one dominant ingredient.”

The Official World Championship Recipe

4 bunches of fresh basil (Genoese, if possible)
30g pine nuts
45-60g grated mature Parmesan cheese
20-40g grated Pecorino Sardo cheese
1-2 garlic cloves (from Vassalico, Imperia, if possible)
10g coarse salt
60-80 ml (4- 5 tbs) extra virgin olive oil (from the Italian Riviera, if possible)

1. Wash the basil leaves in cold water and dry them (without rubbing them).
2. In a mortar finely crush the garlic cloves and pine nuts until they are smooth. Add a few grains of salt and the basil leaves, then pound the mixture using a light circular movement of the pestle against the sides. Repeat this process.
3. When the basil drips bright green liquid add the Parmesan cheese and the Pecorino Sardo cheese. Pour a thin layer of extra-virgin olive oil over the sauce to bind the ingredients.

Click here for more information about the competition.

How To make pasta (the Giorgio Locatelli way)