Pesto: The Modern Mother Sauce

In this friendly if uneven cookbook, Lennox, founder of the jarred sauce company Hope’s Gardens, argues that the five “mother sauces” established by Auguste Escoffier are outdated and could be replaced by modern choices such as herb, pepper, pesto, tahini, and yogurt sauces. In this volume, she focuses solely on pesto, considering the sauce’s basic ingredients and possible substitutions (though a Genovese stickler would blanch at instructions to use a food processor and a garlic-heavy ratio) as well as suggestions for storage. Recipes for variations follow (there are Cajun, Chinese, and French versions), but the bulk of the book consists of recipes that incorporate a traditional basil pesto (such as a roasted vegetable sandwich with a pesto-mayonnaise). Lennox offers shortcuts, so readers who prefer to cook from scratch will be disappointed in recipes that call for store-bought flatbread (naan with spicy pesto, feta, and fresh figs) or a precooked rotisserie chicken (chicken noodle soup). That said, there are many pleasant surprises, such as pesto-stuffed burgers and a shakshuka with pesto and eggs. But it’s far too common—as with a guacamole that calls for one-quarter of a cup of roasted jalapeño-cilantro pesto stirred into it along with fresh cilantro and diced jalapeños—for the pesto to get lost in the shuffle. This well-intentioned cookbook has some hits, but often misses its mark. [em](May) [/em]