Though you may associate pesto with Liguria, this Sicilian version gives its more well-known counterpart a run for its money. Where the famed green Genovese pesto is made from basil, garlic, pine nuts, and olive oil crushed in a mortar and pestle, the Trapanese version subs pine nuts for almonds and throws tomatoes into the mix. The result is a coarse, fragrant, and brightly acidic pesto.
Virginia Gattai, proprietor of organic farm Il Biviere just south of Catania, tells us that not many dishes conquer the palates of her visitors like busiate with Sicilian pesto does. It’s now expected that almost every guest asks for the recipe, and she happily reveals it with all its secrets (to us too!) as if she were giving out a piece of Sicily that one could enjoy and preserve anywhere in the world. “I perfectly remember that explosion of flavors in my mouth, as if the richness of Sicily was perfectly concentrated in its taste–fresh and decisive,” Virginia recalls of her first time tasting the dish, at dinner with friends in Filicudi.
Like many traditional Sicilian recipes, pesto alla Trapanese’s roots run deep into the history of this territory. In the port of Trapani, Genovese ships, headed for the east, used to stop, bringing with them the typical Ligurian dish of agliata, a garlic and nut-based sauce. This pesto was then revisited and transformed by the Trapani sailors who added local ingredients: almonds, tomatoes, Nubian red garlic, basil, and, obviously, the excellent coarse sea salt for which the area is known.
Pasta cu l’agghia (pasta with pesto alla Trapanese, in Sicilian dialect) is best with busiate, a type of long and twisted fresh pasta, common in western Sicily and made with just water and durum wheat. Here, Virginia’s famous recipe!
PESTO ALLA TRAPANESE
INGREDIENTS
- 320 gr di pasta (ideally busiate)
For the pesto:
- 500 g fresh tomatoes
- 70 gr of peeled almonds
- 50 g Sicilian pecorino*
- 2 red garlic cloves
- 40 g of basil
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper, to taste
PREPARATION
- Blanch and peel the tomatoes, and remove the seeds.
- Toast the almonds in the oven for 15 min at 150 degrees (302 F) and let them cool.
- Blend all the pesto ingredients together except the basil. It’s best to do so with a mortar and pestle, as they do in Sicily; if so, start with the almonds and garlic, before adding the rest of the ingredients. That said, you can also use a food processor or blender.
- Slowly add a little olive oil as it blends, if necessary, to reach desired texture. You want the ingredients to be well-integrated, but the sauce to still be a bit coarse and rough. Add the basil and salt to taste, and blend just a bit more.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling water. Reserve a bit of pasta cooking water, and drain pasta once it’s al dente.
- Season pasta with pesto, adding a few splashes of cooking water if necessary, and serve!
*Good news for those who are lactose intolerant: the pasta is delicious even if you omit the pecorino!
