Pesto alla Trapanese (Sicilian Pesto)

Pesto alla Trapanese is a Sicilian pesto combining almonds, cherry tomatoes, basil, garlic and olive oil. This pesto is the perfect pairing for busiate pasta just like they serve in Trapani!

If you have ever visited Trapani, in western Sicily, on every single menu of the restaurants you visit you’ll find busiate pasta served with pesto alla Trapanese. Busiate are the telephone cord shaped pasta made of only semolina flour and water. You’ll find the recipe for this pasta here.

The traditional pairing for this unique pasta is this pesto alla Trapanese, a Sicilian pesto recipe that combines almonds, fresh cherry tomatoes, basil and of course, garlic and olive oil. All in all, this is the perfect summer pasta!

We all know pesto can be made with a wide variety of ingredients from traditional basil pesto to another Sicilian favorite, pistachio pesto. However, this is the first time I tried almond pesto made with fresh whole tomatoes. The result is a creamy, fresh tasting pesto with a subtle almond flavor, all perfectly balanced.

And as in all pesto recipes, you can whip this up in just a few minutes in your food processor. However, my son (who assisted me with this post) insisted we use the traditional way of making pesto, that is with a mortar and pestle. So I’ll share both methods in my recipe below.

Ingredients:

• fresh cherry tomatoes: can be used raw, however I prefer to blanch and peel them
• almonds: blanched, peeled and roasted
• fresh basil 
• garlic
• olive oil
• pinch of salt

Step by Step Instructions

Prepare the almonds: boil water in a small sauce pan, add almonds and boil for 1 minute. Drain and when they’re cool enough to handle use your fingers to peel off the skin. It will easily slip off. Preheat oven to 350F and toast almonds for 10 minutes.

Prepare the cherry tomatoes: Score the top of each tomato with a sharp knife. Bring water in that same sauce pan to a gentle boil. Add tomatoes and blanch for 1 minute. The skin will begin to shrivel. Drain and place in a bowl. When cool enough to handle, peel off the skin, roughly chop the tomatoes and set aside in a bowl.

Once all your ingredients are prepped, you’re ready to make pesto!

With a mortar and pestle:

Place garlic and a pinch of salt in the mortar and crush until you have a paste. Add almonds and continue crushing until you have a rough paste. 

Finally, add basil leaves and another pinch of salt and grind all ingredients together until well combined.  

Transfer the mixture to the bowl with the cherry tomatoes and stir until combined. The pesto will have small chunks of tomatoes and will not be as smooth as pesto made in a food processor. If your mortar is large enough, you can also add the tomatoes to the almond mixture and grind all ingredients together.  

 

With a food processor:

Place all ingredients in the bowl of your food processor and either process until smooth or for a chunkier consistency pulse a few times until you have the desired texture.  Add salt, to taste. That’s it!

To serve:  

Cook your favorite pasta, stir in the pesto and serve with grated Pecorino Roman cheese. Enjoy!

Tips and suggestions:

• Pesto all Trapanese is traditionally served with busiate pasta however you can definitely serve it with other types of  fresh pasta such as my homemade cavatelli, as well as commercial dry pasta. I prefer medium sized shaped pasta such as penne, rigatoni or fusilli that will catch the sauce.
• Whole cherry tomatoes can also be added to the pesto without blanching and peeling them.
• Italian plum tomatoes may be substituted for cherry tomatoes.
• You may notice that I did not add grated Pecorino Romano cheese to the pesto. I prefer adding grated cheese when I serve the pasta, however if you prefer you can add a couple of spoonfuls of cheese to your pesto.
• This recipe makes enough to serve with 500 grams of cooked pasta.
• Be sure to reserve pasta cooking water to thin out the pesto, if necessary, when adding to the pasta.
• Pesto alla Trapanese will keep well refrigerated for up to 3 days.
• It can also be frozen for up to 3 months.

Now you’re all set to make your homemade busiate pasta with pesto alla Trapanese just like they do in Sicily! Let me know how much you enjoy this recipe by rating it in the recipe card below. And feel free to Pin if for later. Buon appetito!