I have always loved Genoese pesto like so many other Ligurian dishes.
Then I started hearing about parsley pesto, courgette pesto and rocket pesto (whose flavor I have always been in love with). This idea was born from the curiosity for the flavor of this very particular pesto with a light and very pleasant bitter note. So I tried to use rocket pesto in a very summer version, a version in which I usually use Genoese pesto: a fresh rice salad, I liked the experiment.
Time of realization: 2 hours
Degree of difficulty (1 to 5): 2
Pastry cutter diam. 9 height 4cm.
Ingredients for people 4
For the rocket pesto
100 g of fresh rocket
100 ml of extra virgin olive oil
1 clove of garlic
50 g of Parmesan cheese
50 g of Pecorino
50 g of pine nuts (or walnuts, if you prefer)
Salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper to taste
For the rice
200 g of original rice (I used Indian rice that has a cooking time of about half an hour but in the end it is very similar to the original then in short we are Italian)
Rocket pesto to taste (depending on how rich you want it)
15 cherry tomatoes
a buffalo mozzarella (or normal if you prefer ... or even smoked)
80 g of fontina cheese (or smoked scamorza)
1 pack of fresh champignons (usually contains about fifteen champignons)
2 tablespoons salted capers
About 120 g of roasted cooked ham
50 g of Pecorino
Salt and Pepper To Taste
For the dish
3 medium sized carrots
20 cherry tomatoes
25 pitted and drained green olives
30 cherry tomatoes
30 strands of chives
a few chopped walnuts
Procedure for making the rice salad among the flowers
For the rocket pesto
To prepare the rocket pesto, simply pour the rocket, pine nuts and other ingredients into a mixer and chop everything until you get a smooth and creamy mixture. Once made, the rocket pesto can be kept for 2-3 days in the refrigerator. A tip: pour a little extra virgin olive oil on top, so that the oil helps the conservation. Prefer a hermetically sealed jar to prevent your rocket pesto from losing its freshness.
Prepare the rice
Cook the original rice in salted water until al dente, following the cooking times indicated on the package.
Drain it and cool it immediately (and well) under running water.
Put it in a bowl, add a little extra virgin olive oil and set aside.
Stew the mushrooms
Cut the cleaned mushrooms into slices only with a cloth (never wash them ... they will spoil) and then in a pan with oil, garlic, salt and pepper and let them go until the mushrooms are nice and soft, if they tend to stick, add just a little water (or white wine).
When cooked, sprinkle with ground parsley.
Give them a good stir and keep them aside and let them cool. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half, remove the seeds and cut them into very small cubes. Cut the mozzarella into very small cubes. Cut the fontina into very small cubes. Desalt the capers by keeping them a little under running water in a normal colander. Cut the slice of roasted cooked ham into very small cubes. Cut the pecorino into very small cubes. Cut the carrots into very thin slices and season them in a bowl with oil, salt and pepper and set aside. Cut the pitted green olives in half and make a few cuts on each half to make them look like flowers and keep them aside. Some cut them into small pieces. Cut a dozen cherry tomatoes in half, remove the seeds and cut them into flower-like cuts as well. Cut other cherry tomatoes into very thin slices.
Now mix together:
- Rice
- rocket pesto (if you kept it in the fridge immediately before adding it to the rice, you can add a little boiling water from cooking the rice to make it more fluid and better mix with the rice)
- diced cherry tomatoes
- diced mozzarella
- cubed fontina cheese
- cold stewed mushrooms (drain any excess water)
- capers
- diced roasted cooked ham
- diced pecorino
Mix everything perfectly.
Plating
Place the pastry rings on the serving dish. Fill it with rice and press the rice to give it the shape of the pastry ring. Draw it well. When the content is firm, remove the pastry ring. Decorate the rice by alternating slices of carrot and cherry tomatoes. Arrange 5 or 6 flower cut olives in the center of carrots and cherry tomatoes. At the center of the olives place 3 desalted capers.
Then arrange the chives on the plate as you can see in the photo, three on one side and three on the other. At the base of the threads put small pieces of olives like a garden and at the apex cherry tomatoes and carrots cut into flower.
I also put the chopped walnuts but I am sorry they are not good if you put them put much less or even scattered on the "pie".
The recipe was made by Daniela Mussini.
