If you’ve ever found yourself eating Maida’s sun dried tomatoes straight from the jar, this is the pesto for you. Bursting with rich umami flavor, this pesto gets all its creaminess from Pizzuta almonds and Rossi pine nuts. No cream in sight. We’ve served it with Fusilli Martelli, their tight coils catch the sauce so well! But don’t feel limited to pasta. This recipe makes slightly more pesto than you’ll need, and you’ll be glad for the leftovers. It’s equally delicious spread on a crostini, used in a sandwich, or as an accompaniment to meats.
Ingredients
SERVES: 4-5
TIME: 20 minutes
- Pine nuts, 30g / 1 oz
- Peeled Pizzuta almonds, 60g / 2oz
- Garlic clove, 1, peeled
- Sun dried tomatoes in EVOO, 1 jar (190g / 6.7oz ), drained, oil reserved.
- Chili peppers in EVOO, 1 tsp or to taste
- Fine sea salt, to taste
- Fusilli Martelli, 1 bag (500g/1.1lbs)
- Coarse sea salt, to taste
Preparation
- To make the pesto, put the garlic clove, pine nuts, and almonds in a food processor and blitz to grind the nuts, until only some large chunks remain.
- Add the drained sun dried tomatoes along with a few tablespoons of the oil. Maida’s sun dried tomatoes come with a few capers and other seasonings in the jar, add them too! Blend until the pesto is creamy, adding more oil as needed. Taste and season with fine sea salt if desired.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and season with coarse sea salt. Cook the fusilli until they’re cooked al dente and drain, reserving a cup or so of cooking water.
- Scoop about 250g / 8.8oz of the pesto into a large serving bowl, then pour the hot, drained fusilli on top. Dribble in some pasta cooking water and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon, adding more of the water as needed to loosen the sauce and create a creamy texture.
- Serve with a bottle of extra virgin olive oil and a jar of chili peppers for people to add to their plates.
