The taste and the aroma of Pantelleria: the pesto
Pantescan pesto
The Pantescan pesto, in Sicilian: l’ammogghio (=combined) is an Arabic raw sauce that is basically used to season pasta. But you might also try it on bruschetta bread or over grilled meat or fish.Here you can find two different recipes of the pantescan pesto
Spaghetti with pantescan pesto
Ingredients:
- 400 gr spaghetti;
- 600 gr tomatoes;
- 2 garlic cloves;
- 80 gr shelled almonds;
- 60 gr capers from Pantelleria;
- fresh basil;
- ½ hot chilli pepper;
- ½ glass extra virgin olive oil;
- 30 gr pecorino cheese;
- salt.
Preparation: Cut the tomatoes slightly with a sharp knife, sear in hot water for a minute, drain and cool under fresh water. Peel them and eliminate the seeds, cut them in small pieces. Wash the basil and take few leaves from it. Wash the capers to get rid of the excess salt in a bowl, changing its water every 15 minutes twice; drain and squeeze tightly. Put in the mixer the almonds, the unsalted capers, 2/3 basil leaves, the hot chilli pepper and the garlic cloves. Trim roughly and then add the tomato sauce and keep on grinding until it’s smooth.
Pour into a large bowl and add the extra virgin olive oil, adding salt if necessary.
Cook the spaghetti in plenty of water, for the time shown on the package, drain and mix with the pesto; add some pecorino cheese, mix and serve immediately.
Lasagne with Pantescan pesto and vegetables
Ingredients:
- 300 gr grounded durum wheat flour;
- 1 kg tomatoes;
- 3 round Italian zucchini;
- 300 gr green beans;
- 2 garlic cloves;
- 2 tbsp unsalted capers;
- 150 gr peeled almonds;
- 50 gr sesame seeeds, parsley;
- Extra virgin olive oil, salt.
Preparation: first of all, make the parsley flavoured dough: mix together flour, minced parsley, salt and 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Grind for about 2 minutes and then add water until you get a smooth and firm dough. Mix for another 2 minutes and then make a ball, cover it with plastic film and put it a bowl, leave it for half an hour. If the dough gets too soft you might add some flour. Now prepare the Pantescan pesto as explained above: put in the mixer peeled tomatoes, parsley, garlic, 4tbsp extra virgin olive oil, capers and salt. Mix for few minutes.
Wash and cut the green beans and cook them for 5 minutes in boiling water. Wash the Italian zucchini, cut them and salt them, then fry them in sunflower oil. With the pasta machine, stretch the dough, cut in sheets and boil for a minute, lay on a clean dish towel.
In a pan, slightly fry the sesame seeds together with the almonds and a pinch of salt (it has to look like grated parmesan cheese)
You can now combine all the ingredients: at the bottom of a baking tray pour two spoons of Pantescan pesto, lay over a couple of pasta sheets, cover with some more pesto and the fried Italian zucchini and the green beans; sprinkle with the sesame seeds and almond mix; repeat until all the ingredients are finished.
Sprinkle with some more sesame seeds and almond mix. Bake at 180*C for 30 minutes.
And now… just enjoy the flavour and the aroma of Pantelleria
