Today I didn’t feel like making dinner, which usually means that, more than hunger, I don’t feel like fighting against my lilliputian kitchen. Do you know what the dimensions are of the surface where I chop vegetables, roll out dough, etc., etc., and etc.? 60 x 32 cm. I’ll add the fact that I don’t have a dishwasher and that, although I can momentarily stack utensils I no longer need inside the sink, I have to hurry to clear it, because if I have to strain pasta, wash my hands, or another food, it can’t be full (Couldn’t Merlin come give me a hand every now and then?).
When I’m in a good mood, I take it as an added difficulty that, if I combine it with keeping an eye on what I’m cooking in two or three different pots and preparing the next steps of the recipe, makes me feel like a real cook, very busy, fighting against the clock. Not only to bring a well-made dish to the table, but because I manage to keep the kitchen in order and make space for myself, without wasting time. (Yes, I also think I should try to have a bit more of a social life) Today I wasn’t in a good mood, but I remembered how easy and, above all, clean it is to cook some pasta with pesto alla Trapanese and there you have it… It could perfectly well pass as a Sunday meal. Don’t you think?
Until recently, I thought that pesto alla Trapanese was another name for pesto alla siciliana, but that’s not the case. Like the famous Genoese pesto, the base of Sicilian and Trapanese pesto is garlic and basil, but they differ in the use of almonds and tomatoes, and because they forgo parmesan in favor of other cheeses. The Sicilian one mixes almonds and pine nuts and also contains fresh ricotta. The Trapanese one, as a nut, only uses almonds and pecorino as cheese. Both are good, but we already know the price of those little pine nuts, a price that is quite annoying if you have to prepare it for many people… Therefore, if you want to save a little, but still make a good impression, alla Trapanese is perfect.
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The card
- 200 g fusilli
- 40 g peeled almonds
- 1 clove of garlic
- 10 basil leaves
- 4 ripe tomatoes
- 30 g grated pecorino (or dry sheep's milk cheese)
- A little less than half a glass of oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Get the water boiling for the pasta now, because the rest is done in a jiffy.
- Chop the basil, garlic, and almonds with the oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. If you don't have a food processor, it can be done with a mortar and pestle, which is how it is traditionally made.
- Remove the skin and the inside of the tomatoes (the seeds and the gelatinous part surrounding them) and chop them or cut them into very small cubes.
- Mix the pesto with the tomato and the pecorino. Taste and adjust salt and pepper if necessary.
- Drain the pasta, mix with the pesto, and that's it.
- Note: If you find it very difficult to peel the tomatoes, you can blanch them in boiling water for a couple of minutes. The skin will come off almost by itself.
