L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 28 L'Italo-Americano LA BUONA TAVOLA RECIPES COOKING TIPS SEASONAL DISHES Continued from page 28 a n t b i t s o f s k i n i n i t . Tomatoes are easily peeled if the skin is loosened a bit by a quick blanch in boiling w a t e r ( n o m o r e t h a n 3 0 seconds or so), or by char- ring the skin over a flame as you would a bell pepper. Y o u c a n a l s o u s e s m a l l grape or cherry tomatoes, which have tender skins and very little seeds and water inside. They need no particular prep before they are added to the rest of the pesto. Blanched almonds are commonplace in US super- m a r k e t s ( t h e y a r e u s e d extensively in baking here) but if you can't find them, then take regular almonds, shell them and then blanch them for a few minutes. Their skins should then slip off easily. You want a nice, fruity, deep green kind of olive oil for this dish. This being a Sicilian recipe, olive oil from Sicily would be per- f e c t , o f c o u r s e , b u t t h e y make similar olive oil in Puglia and that would cer- t a i n l y d o q u i t e f i n e , a s would any similar olive oil from elsewhere. The traditional recipe f o r p e s t o a l l a trapanese using a mortar a n d p e s t l e p r o d u c e s a rather different result— which is why many tradi- tionally minded recipes will warn you never, even to u s e a b l e n d e r o r f o o d processor to make pesto alla trapenese. You grind up the garlic with a bit of s a l t , t h e n t h e a l m o n d s , then the basil, just as you would a traditional pesto alla genovese. The toma- toes are not ground up with the rest, but chopped into little cubes and mixed with the pesto. The texture is, of c o u r s e , q u i t e d i f f e r e n t : tomatoes retain more of its original character and the p e s t o h a s c o n s i d e r a b l y more chunkiness to it. And it looks quite different on the plate, with contrasting red and green bits. Nothing prevents you, of course, from mixing modern and t r a d i t i o n a l m e t h o d s b y making your pesto with a food processor, but folding in hand-chopped tomato to it at the end. The traditional pasta for pesto alla trapanese is a home-made Sicilian pasta c a l l e d b u s i a t i . B u t t h i s pesto is delicious with lin- guine, spaghetti or even short pastas like penne or farfalle. In fact, if you ask me, it goes well with pretty much any pasta you feel like having. There are some varia- tions to pesto alla trapa- n e s e t h a t y o u c a n t r y a t your leisure. I've seen some recipes calling for a bit a red pepper which is actual- ly quite nice. Others, call for topping your pasta with ricotta salata or fried bread c r u m b s r a t h e r t h a n t h e p e c o r i n o — b o t h v e r y Sicilian touches. In sum- mer, a bit of mint along with the basil makes for a nice change of pace. Spaghetti with pesto alla Trapanese, garnished with fresh basil (Photo: Dreamstime)

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