trapani spaghetti

Back to my 50-recipe challenge for myself - here's #13. Adam has made this before, but this was my first shot at it. It's from the "Jamie's Italy" book (the Naked Chef).

ALMOND AND TOMATO PESTO - trapani style spaghetti

5 oz almonds
1 clove garlic
3 handfuls fresh basil
grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese
extra virgin olive oil
1 lb cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1. Crush the almonds in a food processor (or blender - I use the "pulse" setting) until they have a coarse powder consistency. Put them in a bowl.
2. Remove the basil leaves from the stems, and also crush the basil leaves in the food processor the same way. Add the crushed basil to the bowl with the almonds.
3. Crush the garlic clove into the almonds/basil mix.
4. Add the cheese at a balance with the almonds and basil.
5. The original recipe calls for "a good glug of olive oil." You decide what amounts to a "glug." Basically, you want the pesto to not be runny at all, but start thinning it out a bit.
6. Add the tomatoes, and scrunch the whole mixture in your hands to break up the tomatoes and mix the juices all together. If the pesto mixture is still very thick, add more olive oil a little bit at a time until it can spread a bit onto the pasta.
7. Serve with spaghetti.

Notes - you can freeze pesto for later and use it a little at a time. And we didn't have cherry tomatoes so I used one regular large tomato cut to a fairly small dice. YUM!