This Trapanese pesto recipe from Milk Street is made with tomatoes and almonds, the latter a nod to Sicily's Arabic heritage. It's a refreshing and tasty alternative to the basil heavy version from northwestern Italy.
Ingredients:
- 4 ounces slivered almonds (about 1 cup), toasted
- 1 small garlic clove
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 pound cherry tomatoes
- 3/4 ounce fresh basil leaves (1 cup lightly packed)
- Kosher salt
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 ounce grated pecorino Romano cheese (1⁄2 cup), plus more to serve
- 12 ounces short, sturdy pasta, such as gemelli, casarecce or rigatoni
- Ground black pepper
Directions:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine the almonds, garlic and pepper flakes. Process until coarsely ground, 20 to 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, basil and 3⁄4 teaspoon salt. Pulse until uniformly ground but still chunky, 10 to 12 pulses. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the oil and cheese.
Cook the pasta until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water. Add the pasta to the bowl with the pesto and toss. If the sauce is too thick, add a bit of the reserved pasta water. Taste and season with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and more cheese.
Don't add the cooking water to the sauce right away. While we always reserve some starchy cooking water before draining pasta, this sauce has so much moisture from the tomatoes that it wasn’t always necessary.
