more fun with homemade pasta: fettuccine alla trapanese

I think I'm starting to make some good progress with homemade pasta... This time, I went back to my new favorite obsession (Jamie's Italy) for inspiration. Jamie describes this as the Trapanese method for making pesto sauce (although Marcella Hazan vehemently denies that pesto can be made with anything other than pine nuts, olive oil, basil, and parmesan). It was delicious, although I was more proud of how the fettuccine turned out - finally, I was able to make a batch without any real problems!

Grocery list: 1 pound dried spaghetti (I used 1 pound fresh fettuccine), 5 oz almonds, 1 clove garlic, 4 handfuls fresh basil leaves, 5 oz freshly grated parmesan, 1 1/2 pounds tomatoes, halved.



In a food processor, you crush the almonds until they are a coarse powder, then pulse in the garlic (I used 2 or 3 cloves instead of 1) and the basil, then add in the parmesan. While pulsing the food processor, stream in olive oil steadily till it is the right consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Hand crush the tomatoes into the pesto sauce. Cook the pasta and mix everything together in a large serving bowl.