Sicilian Pesto Sauce Recipe - Pesto alla Siciliana

Almost everyone is familiar with Pesto alla Genovese, the green garlic-and-basil sauce that's one of the symbols of Ligurian cuisine. The verb pestare means "to stomp on," or to crush, and therefore the word pesto describes a process more than a product. Indeed, pesto alla genovese is made by grinding the ingredients in a mortar. So is Pesto alla Siciliana, which is made with tomatoes rather than basil. You'll need:

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces (50 g) pinoli
• 3 small heads of garlic
• 2 large sun-ripened tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeded, and chopped
• A small bunch of basil
• A small bunch of parsley
• The leaves of a stalk of celery
• Olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Mince the herbs. Remove the skins from the garlic cloves. Grind the pine nuts and garlic in a mortar with the tomatoes, work in the herbs, and continue grinding until you have a smooth paste. Check seasoning, work enough olive oil into the mixture to transform it into a smooth sauce, and you're ready to use it over pasta, or to serve it with boiled or grilled meats. A little goes quite a ways; keep the remainder in a jar in the refrigerator.

Pesto alla Trapanese is a little less strong:

• 6 cloves garlic
• 6 ripe plum tomatoes
• 1/4 pound (100 g) blanched, peeled almonds
• A bunch of basil
• Olive oil, salt, and pepper

Grind the garlic, basil and slat to obtain a paste, then work the tomatoes and almonds into it, grinding until the mixture is homogenous. Add pepper to taste and olive oil sufficient to produce a sauce, and it's ready.

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