Pesto Trapanese
- maria06533
- 1 day ago
- 1 min read
This pesto recipe blows away all the others. It's fresh, it's bright, it's delicious. It comes from the Trapani region of Sicily. It differs from tnorthern Italian pesto because of two key ingredients. We will swap out the pignoli for raw almonds and we are going to add juicy, delicious cherry tomatoes. Toss it with pasta, spread it on fish, chicken or even slices of bread. Amazing!!!
INGREDIENTS
1 lb rigatoni
1 lb cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup washed and dried basil leaves
1/2 cup raw almond slices
1-2 cloves peeled garlic
3-4 T grated pecorino romano cheese
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
sea salt, to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
Cook rigatoni according to package instructions, draina nd set aside
Meanwhile, prepare the Pesto Trapanese. In a food processor, pulse the garlic and raw almonds until they form tiny crumbs, do not over process until smooth.
To the food processor, add the basil, the cherry tomatoes, pecorino romano, extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt. Note: if you add too much basil, the basil will take over the aroma and flavor of the tomatoes and it will make the pesto a green color. The cherry tomatoes are the show in this pesto dish. Also, do not substitute regular tomatoes as cherry tomatoes have less water.
Pulse until almost smooth. Do not make it too smooth, leave a few visible small chunks.
Place the drained rigatoni in a large bowl, add the pesto from the food processor and toss together. Finish with a little grated pecorino romano, if desired.
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