Pesto Alla Trapanese {Sicilian Almond, Tomato & Basil Pesto}

A month of Sicilian foods and recipes couldn’t have gone without one of my favorite pasta sauces – pesto!

Pesto alla Trapanese is a Sicilian pesto with 3 main ingredients: almonds, tomatoes and basil.

As its name implies it’s a typical pesto from province of Trapani.

In ancient times, ships coming from Genoa to the port of Trapani brought their traditional raw sauce made with garlic and nuts, called “l’agliata ligure”

As time went by, local sailors added their typical foods like almonds and fresh tomatoes.

And this is how we know Pesto Alla Trapanese today.

Its lightly crumbly texture (just enough to feel the crunch of almonds) and delicate taste makes it a perfect pair to any kind of pasta: served hot or cold!

But of course, the most typical and traditional way to serve Pesto Trapanese will be with busiate – type of long, thin hollow tube pasta twisted in the way that it resembles a telephone cord.

Now, a few words about some of the ingredients and variations.

Tomatoes

Ripe, meaty  plum tomatoes that have very little water and seeds are the best. But you can use any kind of tomatoes you have on hand. Just make sure you remove excess liquid and the seeds before adding them to the food processor, otherwise your pesto will be too watery.

Almonds

Pesto Trapanese used blanched almonds – skin removed. You can get already blanched almonds at the store and remove the skin with simple steps explained in the recipe.

Basil

Of course, only fresh, bright green basil leaves should make it to the pesto bowl.

Garlic

Being one of the basic ingredients of the whole “Pesto Alla Trapanese” story it might sound even absurd.

BUT. If you don’t like strong garlic taste use just use a small pinch of a clove or skip it entirely.

Food processor or Mortar-and-pestle

The choice is yours. Of course you’ll get a slightly different results applying your manpower 😉

The only important thing to keep in mind that whichever tool you use make sure not to “destroy” your pesto into a cream. There still should be some almond crumbles for the texture.

For the rest, it should be pretty straightforward – especially with a food processor – ready, pulse, go! ← one of the reasons to LOVE PESTO 😍

Full Recipe

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Pesto Alla Trapanese {Sicilian Almond, Tomato & Basil Pesto}

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Pesto alla Trapanese is a delicious Sicilian pesto made with 3 main ingredients: almonds, tomatoes and basil.

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Prep Time5 minutes mins

Course: Pesto, Sauces

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• ▢ ½ lb tomatoes (250 g)
• ▢ 2 cups fresh basil leaves (40-50 g)
• ▢ ⅓ cup almonds ,blanched (60 g)
• ▢ 2 tbsp Pecorino cheese , grated
• ▢ 3 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
• ▢ ½ – 1 garlic clove , core removed
• ▢ Salt to taste

Instructions

Blanch Tomatoes

• Put a small pot of water to boil.
• Cut an x into the top of each tomato.
• Once water is boiling immerse tomatoes for 60 seconds.
• Transfer tomatoes into a bowl with cold water.
• Peel of tomato skin.
• Remove extra water and seeds.

Blanch Almonds

• Repeat steps 1,3,4,5 from the process above.
• Or use store-bought blanched almonds.

Make Pesto Alla Trapanese

• Place all ingredients except Pecorino cheese and extra virgin olive oil in a food processor or a countertop blender.
• Pulse a couple of times until you get even, slightly crumbly texture.
• Add Pecorino cheese and extra virgin olive oil.
• Make some pasta!

Notes

Store in the fridge in a closed container for 2-3 days or in the freezer for a couple of months.

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Pesto Alla Trapanese, aside of being used as a pasta condiment is also used in another typical to the region dish –babbaluci cu l’agghia – snails cooked and seasoned with Pesto Alla Trapanese.

Buon Appetito!