Busiate alla Trapanese (Corkscrew Pasta with Trapanese Pesto)
This flavorful pesto from the seaside city of Trapani, Sicily, is traditionally served with homemade busiate, a spiral-shaped pasta. Substitute dried fusilli in a pinch. This recipe first appeared in SAVEUR Issue #140 along with Laura Schenone's story Glorious Pesto
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Credit: Todd Coleman
SERVES 6–8
INGREDIENTS
1 pint cherry tomatoes
3/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1/2 cup packed basil
1/2 cup finely grated parmesan, plus more for serving
6 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp. golden raisins
2 tbsp. capers, drained
1/4 tsp. crushed red chile flakes
3 anchovy filets in oil, drained
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 pepperoncini, stemmed, seeded, and roughly chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 cups flour
3 eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Make the pesto: Place tomatoes in a food processor and process until finely chopped; pour tomatoes into a fine strainer and drain off excess juices. Process tomatoes along with almonds, basil, parmesan, 5 tbsp. oil, raisins, capers, chile flakes, anchovies, garlic, and pepperoncini in a food processor until finely ground. Season with salt and pepper, and refrigerate until needed.2. Make the pasta: In a large bowl, whisk together flour and 1 tsp. salt; form a well in the center. Pour remaining oil, eggs and yolk, and 2 tbsp. water in well, and using a fork, slowly stir until flour is incorporated and dough forms. Transfer to a floured work surface and knead until smooth, about 8 minutes. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and let rest for 1 hour.
3. Divide dough into 6 equal pieces; working with 1 piece at a time, roll into a 1/8″-thick rope and cut rope into 2″ lengths. Place one end of each length on the end of a wooden skewer or pencil and roll on work surface until length wraps around skewer and forms a corkscrew.
4. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat; working in batches, add pasta and cook, stirring, until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup cooking water, and transfer pasta to a large bowl along with pesto; toss to combine, adding a couple spoonfuls of cooking water, if needed, to create a smooth sauce. Transfer to a large serving platter or bowls and serve with more parmesan cheese.
Pairing note: Punta Crena Mataòssu 2009 ($25) from Liguria stands up to this full-flavored dish.
 Recipe - Saveur.com){kind=link}
the skewer? Do you let it dry? For how long? Does it just slide off the skewer/pencil when it is dry or do you drop it into the boiling
water off the skewer? I love the sound of this recipe, but will need to
know how to manage the pasta before I try it. Thanks
Raisins - too sweet for my taste. Hot peppers ok
Once you coil the pasta around the skewer, you remove the skewer and drop the pasta into the boiling water. There's no need to let the pasta dry, it should keep its shape.
Let us know if you have any further questions!
Busiate are not made with eggs. And pesto has no anchovies, capers, peperoncini and raisins! Only basil, almonds, tomatoes, garlic, salt and extra virgin olive oil. It tastes "spicy" because it has lots of raw garlic in it, so much so that it is called "pasta cu l'agghia" which means pasta with garlic in dialect.
I am sure the pasta in the picture tastes great (I would happily dig in), but it shouldn't be called "with Trapanese pesto" as it is misleading and not correct. As an advocate of authentic Italian food (including regional food), I had to say this. It would be the same to completely change a Gumbo (adding things like cucumber, pasta...) and still call it Gumbo... Thanks.
This pesto sauce may also be great on grilled portabella mushrooms. Will try them on Sunday. Spread over the mushrooms and "marinade" for a couple of hours. Did this with another pesto sauce.
Thanks for reading and looking forward to replies on using as a cold pasta dish.