Fresh Basil Sauce

If you could choose one thing which says everything there is to say about Ligurian cooking this sauce would have to be it! You can use it on any pasta shape you like, stir it into soups, pour it over boiled potatoes or use it as a dip with breadsticks. It is one of my very favourite sauces, a real Italian original, though copied by the French who have renamed it Pistou - but they’ve always had problems with languages!

There are many variations on the basic sauce: some people use wal