Mint and breadcrumb pesto

Cooking with surplus ingredients means being able to look at the past, take the best from it, and bring it into the future. A perfect traditional recipe, like Pasta al Pesto, can be transformed into a commitment to our Planet and our community.

One day, during one of the first services at Refettorio Ambrosiano, the big fridge where surplus ingredients used to be stored was surprisingly empty. There weren’t enough ingredients for a classic Ligurian pesto - a mixture of basil, pine nuts, Parmigiano cheese, and olive oil - so Massimo, and the rest of the Osteria Francescana team, added other aromatic greens, like mint. Then when it turned out that there were no pine nuts, he said: “What about breadcrumbs?”

He grated hard bread and sautéed the crumbs in olive oil, placed the ingredients into a blender, added ice to keep the fragile but vibrant greens from overheating and tasting bitter, and whipped it into the texture and color of the classic recipe.