Pesto Trapanese Busiate - Sicilian Pesto

Recipe: Pesto Trapanese Busiate Recipe »

This is an authentic recipe for Pesto alla Trapanese, a classic Sicilian pasta sauce made with ripe tomatoes, toasted almonds, garlic, basil, pecorino and extra virgin olive oil. Unlike traditional Genoese pesto, this version is a raw, uncooked sauce that is fresh, slightly sweet and beautifully textured. This simple "cucina povera" recipe relies on seasonal ingredients and pantry staples and comes together quickly.

About This Pesto Trapanese Busiate

Pesto alla Trapanese is a wonderful Sicilian pesto made using fresh tomatoes and almonds. This is an authentic recipe for pesto trapanese from Carm Ruggieri who holds the fantastic Sicilian food tour that I went on in 2024. This "raw" pesto is made with fresh summer tomatoes that are blended or crushed with skinned almonds and garlic along with basil, pecorino cheese and olive oil. This is "cucina povera" or peasant cooking as it uses simple ingredients and that are inexpensive and in season.

Pesto alla Trapanese was created in Trapani, Sicily during ancient times. It was created when the Genoese ships would stop by the port of Trapani and brought along a version of pesto. In Trapani they added almonds and tomatoes into the pesto to create their own red pesto. This raw, uncooked pasta sauce is often paired with busiate pasta, a corkscrew twisted pasta shape measuring around 2 inches long.

Video How To Make Pesto Trapanese Busiate

Video: How to Make Pesto Trapanese with Busiate

Ingredients For Pesto Trapanese Busiate

Tomatoes - use any fresh, sweet tomato whether it be cherry, Roma or other variety. The key is the sweetness of the tomato.

Almonds - You can use slivered or whole almonds. Slivered almonds are easier because you don't have to skin them.

Basil leaves - While basil is the main ingredient in a Genoese pesto, much less of it is used in Pesto alla trapanese. You'll need 1/3 -1/2 a bunch of basil.

Garlic - Fresh garlic clove.

Pecorino - Pecorino is the traditional cheese used in pesto alla Trapanese but if you don't have it, parmesan is a substitute.

Olive oil - Use extra virgin olive oil as it is the best quality olive oil.

Pasta - Busiate is the traditional pasta shape but it can be hard to find (I found it at Panetta Mercato in Marrickville but it wasn't in stock for months-I planned to make this in December!). You can usually find it at large Italian delis. In its place you can use caserecce.

Tips For Making Pesto Trapanese Busiate

1 - To remove the skin from whole almonds, boil the almonds in simmering water for 2 minutes. Then place in ice water. The skins should become wrinkled and slip off. I skin the almonds after I toast them.

2 - You do need to add quite a bit of salt. I know I always go on about tomatoes and potatoes needing more salt than other vegetables but it really makes a difference in this!

3 - I served this with extra pecorino to grate on top. You can also use seasoned toasted breadcrumbs (similar to the breadcrumbs in this kale salad). Otherwise you can also serve it with strips of fried eggplant on top (Carm's suggestion).

4 - And remember Carm's advice: it's poor man's food so use whatever you have in your pantry!

Other Sicilian recipes to try next are eggplant caponata or this Cipollina Catanese pastry. Or try this chocolate pear breakfast cake also from Trapani!

Pesto Trapanese Busiate Recipe

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Recipe Overview

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients Needed

300g/10.6ozs ripe cherry tomatoes - 100g/3.5ozs skinned almonds - 1 clove garlic - A good handful of basil leaves, around 20g/0.7ozs - 1 heaped tablespoon/20g/0.7ozs of grated pecorino - 2 tablespoons of olive oil - Salt and black pepper to taste - 500g/1.1lbs dried busiate pasta

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1 ALMONDS - To roast almonds, spread out in a single layer on a tray and roast at 180C/350F conventional for 8-9 minutes or until nutty smelling (6-7 minutes for slivered almonds). Allow to cool.

Step 2 CRUSH - Crush almonds, tomatoes and garlic separately, either in a food processor or in a mortar and pestle. Then add the basil, pecorino and olive oil and blend or crush to form a paste. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. This sauce needs quite a bit of salt.

Step 3 PASTA - Cook the busiate pasta in a large pot of salted water until al dente or to your liking. Drain and mix with the pesto. Serve with extra pecorino, seasoned breadcrumbs or fried eggplant strips.

Personal Note

Eating is one of my favourite things in the world as you can probably tell but I also balance it with exercise and one thing that I find really helps is doing a lot of steps. That's why we bought a new walking pad and I find if I get around 8,000 - 9,000 steps a day, that's about enough for me. If I get over 10,000 it starts to hurt my knees (originally aggravated by wearing high heels for so many years).

When Laura and I went on a recent staycation it was rainy and miserable for the first day. She and I are both into counting our steps (she aims for 15,000 a day!) and usually we go for a nice walk somewhere but the rain stymied those plans.

"Why don't we walk around the shopping centre?" I suggested. I barely notice that I am walking when I am shopping and that way we'd be out of the rain. We spent hours walking around the shopping centre trying on things and I even nabbed some bargains. And by the time we walked back we had done around 13,000 steps plus gained a dress, some underwear and some popcorn too!

So tell me Dear Reader, are you as obsessed with steps as I am? How many do you try to do a day? Have you ever tried Pesto alla Trapanese?