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For the past few weeks, I have been trying to make all the simple dinners that my Mother used to make for us during the Summer months when she didn’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen with the oven on.

Well, last night I had a craving for her Spaghetti Alla Trapanese. This is a Sicilian dish named for it’s birth place, the town of Trapani in the western corner of Sicily.

Basically this is a raw sauce added to hot spaghetti. The sauce is made like  traditional Pesto Genovese sauce. Quick and easy.

Great meal if you don’t want to spend too much time preparing dinner.

I hope you try it and enjoy!

Until my next post, stay well and make every day a celebration!

Diane

Send me your comments if you try this recipe.

You will need:

Ingredients:

1 pint of cherry tomatoes

Large handful of basil leaves

1/3 cup of whole almonds, lightly toasted – the skin can be on or off

2 – 3 garlic cloves

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper – to taste

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil

1/2 cup grated cheese

1 lb spaghetti or any long pasta of your choice

Directions:

Toast the almonds in a dry pan or on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees between 5-10 minutes, until just lightly toasted. Watch carefully, they can burn easily. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Rinse and pat dry the tomatoes and basil.

In a food processor, ADD the tomatoes, garlic, cooled almonds, basil, sun-dried tomatoes, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and use short pulses until mixed well. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

While the food processor is still running, add the olive oil and form a creamy paste- Do not puree. 

Put the pesto in a large bowl and taste for seasoning.

Generously salt the pasta water. Cook spaghetti 2 minutes under al dente as per package directions.

Save 1 cup of pasta water. 

Drain the spaghetti and toss into the pesto. Toss quickly to coat the spaghetti, ADD the grated cheese and toss again. Add pasta water, 1 tbsp at a time to adjust consistency so that the pesto coats the spaghetti and is not too dry or too thick. 

I serve the spaghetti immediately, but in can be served at room temperature.

Additional grated cheese can be added at the table. Garnish with fresh basil leaves.