Here is the epitaph of Mr. B. Asil:
Take one standard bread recipe -
- 500g of bread flour
- 15g of yeast
- 2 teaspoons of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- Splash of olive oil
- warm water (approx 2 cups or enough to make a soft dough)
Dissolve the sugar in half the water and add the yeast. Add flour and salt. Mix it up, man, and gradually pour in just enough water so that the flour is incorporated. Knead (by which I mean mash with your hands like a virgin touching boobs) for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and stretchy. Pour some olive oil into your bowl and turn your dough around in it so that it is coated. Cover your bowl with a damp cloth or some cling film and leave in a warm place so the yeast can get its freak on and double in size.
Then it's pesto time! The whole point of home-made pesto is that it's just a mix of several delicious things that you like... and basil. Therefore, ingredients will be in the measure of 'some' and 'more'.
Purchase your ingredients from your local Flemish market ( or the supermarket, you philistine).
Ingredients:
- Olive oil
- Parmesan, or whatever the Belgian gives you when you mime out 'hard, Italian cheese' at the fromagerie.
- Garlic
- Pinenuts, hazelnuts or whatever you like best.
- A long suffering basil plant
- Black pepper
- Salt (if your cheese isn't very salty)
- Half a lemon
NB - Everything is much easier if you have a food processor, or a pestle and mortar. Failing that, do what we did and use a bowl and a wine bottle after chopping everything as small as you can.
Firstly, murder your basil plant. There's no kind way to do this, so why not just put your Reservoir Dogs instinct to work and just tear off the leaves and appendages with sadistic zeal. The basil should generally be the main ingredient so tailor your addition of other ingredients to how leafy your departed companion was. Next grind your hazelnuts and pepper, grate your cheese and very very finely chop your garlic. Taste and add salt if necessary, or adjust the components as you see fit. Now time to bring in some (Jamie Oliver moment here) attitude! Squeeze in the lemon juice until the acidity bounces off the other flavours nicely. Add olive oil to get the right pesto-esque consistency. Re-taste, alter if you need to, and then rejoice.
Now go back to that bread:
It should be well risen by now, so pull it out of the bowl and throw it on to a nice clean, floured work surface. Roll it out flat into a rectangle, spread over your delicious, zingy pesto, sprinkle with tasty parmesan, and roll up into a long, swissroll type scenario. Chop into about 8 gorgeous looking cylinders and arrage in an oiled baking dish so that the pesto spirals are facing upwards. Cover and leave to double in size again. Bake at 220 degrees celcius for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Take out, pull apart and stuff yourself with some ace pasta or soup! Mmmmm...
