Pesto, mortar only — cookly.recipes

No blade touches it, which is the only reason it stays green and does not turn bitter.

WHAT YOU GET

The chef's hidden note — the technique no cookbook prints
Every component built from scratch, each with its own spec
Films on choosing and judging the produce before you buy it
Gross and net gram weights for every ingredient, per portion
Time and temperature at each stage, as run in the restaurant
A photo at every step that can go wrong
Substitutions for anything hard to find where you live
What usually goes wrong, and what to do about it

Yours for good once bought. Updates from the chef included.

BEFORE YOU BUY

Equipment: Marble mortar, Wooden pestle
Allergens: Nuts, Milk
Method: 18 steps · 12 photographed · 4 filmed
Components: 2 made from scratch
Films: 2, 11 min

2 RECIPES INSIDE THIS RECIPE

Each with its own weights, steps and timings

The sauce, the cure, the dough, the dressing — a restaurant makes these itself, and so will you. Every one below is a full sub-recipe: its own ingredient list, its own method, its own yield and shelf life. Nothing says «use shop-bought».

Two cheeses (Parmigiano and pecorino)

Aged Parmigiano and sharper pecorino, grated to a fine powder just before they go into the mortar.

Pre-grated cheese is dried and cut with starch, which turns pesto grainy and stops it coming together.

Parmigiano Reggiano, 24–30 month000 g
Fiore Sardo pecorino000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 5
Time: 15 min
Hands-on: 15 min

Makes About 90 g of blended cheese, enough for 4 plates · use within 2 hours, it dries fast

Grate it while the pasta water comes to the boil, not earlier

Weights and method unlock on purchase

Pasta-water crema

Film

The finished pesto loosened off the heat with spoonfuls of starchy pasta water until it is thin enough to coat every strand.

Pesto straight from the mortar is too stiff to coat and splits on hot pasta; the starch water binds it.

Finished mortar pesto000 g
Starchy pasta cooking water000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 5
Time: 6 min
Hands-on: 6 min

Makes About 320 ml, 80 ml a plate for 4 · does not keep, serve within 2 minutes

Never — made in the warmed bowl as the pasta drains

Weights and method unlock on purchase

WEIGHED

INGREDIENTS

A taste of the list · the rest locked

A few ingredients to show you what the dish is built on. Every one on the full list carries a gross and a net weight per portion, and a note on what you can swap it for where you live.

Genovese basil000 g
Pine nuts000 g
Garlic000 g
Parmigiano000 g
Pecorino000 g
Smoked something000 g
A whole bulb000 g
Cold-pressed oil000 g
Aged for weeks000 g

The full list, weighed, unlocks on purchase

WATCH BEFORE YOU SHOP

2 films · 11 min

Most of what goes wrong is decided at the counter, before you cook anything. These are filmed by the chef: what to buy, how to tell it is good, and how to set your own kitchen up for it.

CHOOSING5:00

Basil: leaf size, season and bitterness

TECHNIQUE6:00

The mortar action — not pounding, grinding

METHOD

STEP BY STEP — 18 STEPS

12 photographed · 4 filmed

Written the way a restaurant writes a technical card: one operation per step, each with its own time and temperature. 12 of the 18 carry a photo of what it should look like at that moment, and 4 carry a short clip for the parts a still cannot show.

Hardest step: rotating the pestle, never pounding — step 11 of 18.

01
Read the whole method before you start, then weigh everything out. Every timing below assumes the next ingredient is already within reach.
Free preview
02
03
04
05
06
+ 12 more steps, timed and photographed

WHERE IT USUALLY GOES WRONG

2 things Chiara Bruni watches for every service. You can read what they are right now — the answer to each one comes with the recipe.

01
The order into the mortar, and why garlic is never first
What to do about it
02
Keeping it green for two days
What to do about it

The chef's hidden note

The order things go into the mortar, and why garlic is never first.

Written by Chiara Bruni. Visible only to people who bought this recipe.

Read it — $6.99

NOTES FROM THE KITCHENS

301 verified cooks · 93% said it worked

Only people who bought the recipe and showed the dish they made can leave a note. Nobody is paid for it.

PAY $6.99 ONCE

301 people cooked it, 93% got it right, and that is the entire reason it costs $6.99 rather than nothing. In 199 more cooks the price becomes $14.99. Your copy never does.

One payment · Yours for good · No subscription