For the pasta dough
3 cups Italian organic 00 soft wheat flour
5 large eggs
teaspoon salt
For the pesto
25-30 raw, ripe, cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered or halved
30 medium large basil leaves, or several handfuls if the leaves are small (and so, too hard to count—about ¾-1 cup loosely packed)
About 2/3 cup whole almonds, blanched and peeled
5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
a pinch of salt
1/2-3/4 cup grated pecorino cheese
2 cloves of garlic, cut up
½ cup Parmesan cheese
Put the organic flour on the work surface and form a well, add the eggs in the center, season with the salt, mix the ingredients and knead by hand until you get an elastic and smooth dough. Cover it with a cloth and let it rest while you prepare the pesto alla trapanese.
Place the tomatoes and almonds in a mortar or liquidizer and pound or pulse until it forms an uneven paste. Add in the olive oil, salt, pecorino cheese and keep pounding or pulsing, then add the garlic and continue pounding or pulsing until you get a thick and tasty pesto sauce. Set aside while you make the pasta.
Roll the dough out with a rolling pin then either continue rolling until it reaches the desired thickness or use a pasta machine.
Cut the flat wide ribbon of dough into rectangles of 1 ¾ – 2 inches in length by 1- 1/12 inches in width. Pinch each rectangle in the center to obtain the characteristic butterfly form—and voila! –the handmade farfalle are ready.
Bring to the boil a large saucepan of water; when its boiling, salt the water, then add the farfalle. Cook until al dente—it will only take several minutes; test for doneness after 2-3 minutes.
Drain the pasta al dente, saving a little of the cooking water. Toss the hot pasta with the pesto alla trapanese, a few spoonfuls of the cooking water, and finish with a sprinkling of parmesan.
Some like to add a few basil leaves, or even a mint leaf, to garnish.
Farfalle — “little butterflies”– is a type of pasta made of flat dough ribbons, cut into shortish lengths to form rectangles, then pinched in the middle to resemble their namesake, the butterfly. In America, they are often called “bowties” as they so resemble the neck-ware of the same name.
They are among the most popular of pastas, since their shape gives two textures: flat and pinched, and sauce clings differently to both. And they are so very attractive, and delicious with a wide variety of sauces, vegetables and cheeses. They are said to have originated in the regions of Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy.
The sauce, on the other hand, “Pesto alla trapanese” comes from the western part of Sicily, prepared with almonds and tomatoes instead of the basil and peanuts of the famous “pesto alla Genovese”.
It’s no coincidence: over the centuries, Ligurian sailors travelled the surrounding sea, often landing in port cities until they were sailing again. In Trapani, it is said that they couldn’t find the ingredients they needed to make pesto, and so “made do” with local products, which as it happens, are also delicious.
