Sicilian pesto is a great dressing for any kind of pasta. It is a regional recipe, so it has a lot of different variants, with different ingredients. For instance, Trapanese pesto is one of the most famous variant of Sicilian pesto, and it is made only by tomatoes, basil, almonds and oil. Every province of Sicily has his own different recipe, so it’s difficult to decide which is the real way to cook Sicilian pesto. According with the collective imaginary, the real Sicilian pesto is made with ricotta: it is unnecessary to say that not all the recipes involve ricotta. In the Sicilian pesto we are going to talk, there is ricotta, and it can be used as a fast and fresh dressing, for the ingredients used and because they are uncooked.

 

Clean and wash tomatoes, smash them in two parts, after you take off the white part inside, squeeze them, to take off the exceed liquid and the seeds. Then, put them in a container or directly in the mixer.

Slowly add basil (washed and dried), pine nuts, a clove of garlic, some grated Parmesan, ricotta and oil. To have the pesto less creamy use an immersion mixer: it can take a bit more time, but the final effect will be less creamy and with visible little pieces. You can also mix with low speed, so you can better control the level of creaminess. When Sicilian pesto will have the right creaminess add salt and pepper. If not immediately used, it has to be kept refrigerated, in a container (better in glass), with a top, not more than 2 days.