Olive Oil
No olive oil to be foraged from the hilltops of Pennsylvania. But I still had some of the fragrant gold-green stuff that I was on hand to watch as it was cold-pressed from the olive trees at Parco Fiorito, on the Umbria-Tuscany border, when I was in Italy last November. Wrapped inside my dirty laundry, many bottles of the stuff came home with me. Roberto Russo, the chef, cookbook author, and gentleman farmer who owns Parco Fiorito, is passionate about his olives, grapes, guinea hens, and even his pigs. Roberto teaches cooking, too, and a trip to the olive press with him and his olives is something I can only describe as a classic Slow Food experience. I used about half a cup of Roberto's extra virgin olive oil. For more about Roberto Russo's farm/kitchen/cooking school and the region in which it's located, check out www.parcofiorito.it and www.theenthusiastictraveler.com.
Lemon
OK. I broke down and went to the grocery store for this. Two tablespoons did the trick. Parmigiano. Reggiano Parmigiano is still the best and always will be. After I roughly blend together all of the other ingredients (no, I don't use a mortar and pestle) and mix them with the steaming, drained pasta, I like to shave half a cup of Reggiano Parmigiano over the works, so I can watch the cheese melt as the smell of basil and garlic and parmigiano envelopes me.
Pasta
Radiatore, the nookiest of pastas, is the best for capturing bits and pieces of pesto.
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