Canestrato-style basket cheese
A scalded cheese moulded in baskets and re-cooked in its forms in hot whey, made alongside a ricotta from the same milk, then acidified, brined and aged for months.
Pesto alla trapanese
Pesto alla siciliana · Pesto rosso · Trapanese pesto
Pesto alla trapanese is a Sicilian sauce of fresh tomato and almonds pounded with basil, a red counterpart to Genoese pesto.
A red pesto from Sicily
Pesto alla trapanese comes from Trapani on the west coast of Sicily. It belongs to the same family as the Genoese basil sauce, because both are pounded with basil and nuts, but it is built on a different base. The fresh tomato makes the sauce red and sharp, and almonds replace the pine nuts of the Ligurian version. Basil is present in a much smaller amount.
The sauce is also called pesto alla siciliana and, in some places, pesto rosso. The name red pesto covers several different sauces, so the Sicilian one should not be confused with the Calabrian pesto made from grilled bell peppers, which is a separate preparation.
What the sources do not give
The sources read for this page give the ingredients and their roles, but no method, quantities, garlic, cheese, oil ratio, or storage time. The sauce is a fresh, uncooked preparation. Its storage has not been established, and an oil layer or a short shelf life is not evidence of safety. Anyone making it should refer to a dated regional recipe before relying on quantities.
History
The Wikipedia article names the sauce as pesto alla trapanese and as pesto alla siciliana, and describes it as similar to pesto alla genovese with fresh tomato and almonds in place of pine nuts and much less basil.
Ingredients
Fresh tomatoesFresh, not dried; the sources name fresh tomato as the base.
Quantity not given.
AlmondsUsed in place of the pine nuts of the Genoese version.
Quantity not given.
BasilUsed in much smaller amount than in the Genoese pesto.
Quantity not given.
Method
- Pound the fresh tomato with almonds and basil. The sources give no method, quantities or order for this sauce, so the method is recorded only as far as the ingredients go.
Places
Trapani
Traditional preparation · Locality evidenceThe sauce takes its name from Trapani, and the Wikipedia page names it also pesto alla siciliana. The article gives no date for it.
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Sources
WikipediaDefinition · Variants
PestoPesto alla trapanese is also called pesto alla siciliana; it uses fresh tomato and almonds in place of pine nuts and much less basil.
Red pesto is sometimes a name for the Sicilian sauce; pesto alla calabrese uses grilled bell peppers.