Il Prescinseua (Prescinseha) is acid-cured fresh cows milk cheese, almost like a sour cream or yogurt from Liguria.
Despite their quest for purity, Ligurians do add additional ingredients to their traditional pesto - like ricotta and prescinseua to enrich it. Il Prescinseua can be found in supermarkets in Liguria and is sold in small tubs like cottage cheese.
Pesto recipe:
Add a half dozen small basil leaves with stems and spines removed to the mortar with 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt. Mash with the pestle in a steady rhythm and continue to add more leaves (you’ll need 60 small or 30 large leaves in all). Halfway through, add 2 cloves of peeled garlic with the green hearts removed. When the garlic is almost incorporated, add 3 tablespoons of pine nuts. When the pine nuts are mashed, stir in 2 tablespoons each of grated Pecorino Romano and Parmigiano-Reggiano, then a quarter cup of olive oil. Here a small amount of prescinseua could be added to enrich the mixture.
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