Quick 'n' Easy Pasta with Sicilian Pesto

With apologies to all my friends for my long absence. We've been eating well but nothing to blog about really. It's a busy time for us and, now that it's so very hot, we're eating lots of salads and simple grilled meals. However, this very tasty and quick pesto recipe given to me by my good friend Carlotta has inspired me to start posting again. Apparently it's the Sicilian way of making pesto and traditional to the area around the town of Trapani.

As Mr. P is off out tonight for a music session with his friends I was looking for something really quick yet satisfying for supper ... and this fit the bill tremendously well. It doesn't look very colourful on the plate but the very delicious result more than made up for that.

For just the two of us I made half the recipe and decided to serve it with spaghetti. I used some small but very tasty tomatoes, which I peeled and seeded as both the skin and seeds are indigestible, so worth the effort I think, and some fresh basil from the garden. And I used best quality extra virgin olive oil too, of course. I feel with such a simple recipe it is really important that all the ingredients are of the best quality so they really shine through.

A very simple and extremely quick meal, full of flavour. I think very often the simplest of dishes are the best. Thank you Carlotta!

Sicilian Pesto - Serves 4

500g ripe tomatoes, peeled and seeded (but this is optional...)
2 garlic cloves
1 bunch of basil
100g blanched almonds
extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper
grated parmesan cheese

grated pecorino cheese

Put all the ingredients except the cheese into the food processor and blitz until creamy. You will need to scrape it down a few times.

Cook the chosen pasta, toss it with the pesto, add a handful of grated parmesan and pecorino cheese, mix and eat at once.