Pesto Alla Trapanese

I had a wonderful weekend spent with family and friends! We really lucked out because it was supposed to call for rain, pretty much both days. But on Saturday it only rained in the morning and on Sunday it started to rain late evening, just as our guests had all gotten in their cars. And we had just spent ALL afternoon, outside, eating wood burning oven pizza that my husband made. I really thought we had to cancel and reschedule another day, but John had faith all along that it wouldn't rain and my girlfriend Anna, put rosary beads outside just to make sure. Hahaha! See what the power of intention can do?

This recipe for pesto has been calling my name for a couple of months now. I always make the classic pesto with basil, pine nuts, garlic and olive oil. Especially this time of year when basil grows in my garden abundantly! I make a lot it and store it in the refrigerator or freezer. So nice in the middle of winter when all you have to do is boil pasta with some potatoes and green beans and you have Pasta alla Genovese. Mmm, mmm, good!

This pesto is a little different as it has almonds and tomatoes. The rest is pretty much the same. But can I tell you? The almonds make the sauce so creamy. Delicious! I ended up throwing it on everything. For lunch, I brushed some on merluzzo fillets and then I baked in the oven. So tasty. And then for dinner, I spiralled zucchini with my trusty vegetable spiral slicer, salted it to drain the water, wrung the zucchini with my hands and sautéed over high heat with a splash of olive oil. Then I tossed it with the pesto. A nice, light side dish.

 And of course, it's amazing on al dente pasta!

This makes enough for 1 generous cup of pesto but you can easily double it.

Pesto Alla Trapanese

1/2 cup almonds, toasted and cooled
A generous handful of basil, washed and dried
2 cloves of garlic
1 cup cherry tomates
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1 peperoncino
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

In a food processor or blender, drop in the garlic and blend. Add the almonds and blend until all the nuts are ground. Add the basil, cherry tomatoes, parmesan cheese, peperoncino and salt and blend again. Scrape everything down and blend again to make sure everything gets blitzed. With the machine still running, drizzle in the olive oil in a steady stream until it looks like a puree. You might have to add a little more oil. Make sure it's at room temperature when ready to serve or store in refrigerator for another time.

Enjoy!

m xo