The Pasta with Sicilian Pesto is a quick and very tasty first course, a “red” variant of the more classic Genoese Pesto. It’s made with tomatoes, ricotta, pine nuts and basil to create an irresistible cream!
Like all regional recipes, however, this one also boasts numerous adaptations, that is, small variations in the basic ingredients that reflect the traditions and typical products of the area.
Here, for example, the Trapanese Pesto is prepared with peeled almonds, then there is the dried tomato pesto and the one with Bronte pistachios.
So, everyone makes his own pesto with the ingredients available, the peculiarity of the Sicilian pesto, however, is precisely the ricotta.
Wash the tomatoes, dry them and cut in half, remove the seeds and the excess juice. Wash and dry the basil too. At this point, pour the tomatoes into a mixer, add the basil leaves and pine nuts.
Peel a clove of garlic, cut it into small pieces and add it to the mixture together with the grated Parmesan and ricotta.
After a first smoothie, taste it and season with salt and pepper according to your tastes.
Finally, pour the oil and operate the mixer at low speed to check the desired creaminess level. In fact, you can decide whether to obtain a more or less creamy mixture.
Cook the pasta in abundant salted water and drain it al dente. Season the pasta with the pesto directly in the pan and cook on low heat for a few minutes, adding a little cooking water from the pasta.
If you do not immediately consume Sicilian pesto, keep it in a container (preferably glass) well covered in the refrigerator for a maximum of 2 days.
Sicilian pesto has many variations, to try a different flavor you can replace the pine nuts (completely or partially) with peeled almonds.
You can make Sicilian pesto using an immersion mixer: the work will be longer, but you will get a less creamy effect, with more visible pieces.
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