I am still dreaming about the lovely Sicilian food we ate this summer.
Pesto Trapanese is the almond and tomato based pesto sauce served in Trapani, a city on the West coast of Sicily. There is a special shape of pasta they serve there too, but I didn't bring any home, so made mine with tagliatelle. Classic Genovese pesto is made with trofie, and Italians use different shapes of pasta for different styles and thicknesses of sauces. This is a relatively thick sauce, so it might work better with a pasta that catches the sauce in all it's crevices. Still, tagliatelle worked just fine. Since I am still convinced that almonds are one of those magical, crunchy ingredients that improve all recipes, this is my new summer favorite.
Pesto Trapanese Sauce
• a medium sized bunch of basil, use leaves only
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 cup of toasted almonds
• fresh chopped tomatoes, or half a can of diced, chopped tomatoes in their sauce
• olive oil (3-4 tablespoons)
• salt and pepper
• parmesan cheese
Chop the toasted almonds coarsely and set aside a couple of spoonfuls.
In a mixer, blend the basil, garlic, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, tomatoes, almonds, salt and pepper
Sauté this mixture over low heat with the remaining olive oil while your pasta water and pasta cooks.
Once the pasta is cooked and drained, mix well with the pesto sauce and sprinkle the remaining chopped almonds on top. Serve with freshly grated parmesan.
p.s. I usually use Maia Ming Designs bowls but I used these lovely, hand-painted, bowls I bought once in Morocco because they are so summery!
#lifestyleceramics #beautytexturewhimsy #simplepleasures #maiamingdesigns