Nothing beats a weeknight pasta. Cappelletti Sicilia with Tomato Garlic & Nuts will break you out of a pasta rut with the signature taste profile from Italy’s largest southern island.
Known as God’s Kitchen, the island of Sicily is home to some the healthiest Mediterranean cuisine. The climate renders a selection of ingredients that offer it’s native cooks plenty of options: peppers, artichokes, olives, eggplant, apricots, beans, melons, raisins, nuts, tomatoes and seafood. Often combined in unique ways, many dishes associated with the different regions of Sicily balance sweet, salty and savory.
Like this one.
Tossing a hot Cappelletti pasta with the uncooked nut based sauce – a course blend of anchovies, almonds, pine nuts, tomato, garlic and raisins – you get a simple, but spectacular result. Just as good cold as it is hot, you can toss this sauce with any pasta. Here we’ve used a cappelletti filled with cheese, it also works with a sausage filled pasta or a tightly curled fusilli. Offered as a starter or a main, it’s a knock out dish for your next dinner party.
Yes, it’s true. This is a store bought pasta. I love to make pasta. Really must do that for the blog. It’s a time consuming endeavor, and it takes a fair amount of practice to get pasta perfect. But if you want to give it a shot, here’s a great tutorial for you: Cappelletti Recipe.
Tossing a hot Cappelletti pasta with the uncooked nut based sauce – a course blend of anchovies, almonds, pine nuts, tomato, garlic and raisins – you get this simple, but spectacular result. A taste of Sicily.
Ingredients
Scale
3 cups (700 grams) fresh Cappelletti pasta 1 cup cherry tomatoes 6 anchovy fillets (2 tablespoons anchovy paste) 2 1/2 tablespoons golden sultana raisins 2 cloves garlic, crushed 2 tablespoons capers, drained 1/4 cup almonds, blanched slivered preferred 1/4 cup pine nuts 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1 bunch fresh basil, or extra cherry tomatoes
salt (to cook) & pepper (to taste)
Instructions
Cook pasta in salted boiling water, according to package instructions.
2. As pasta cooks, add tomatoes, anchovies, nuts, capers, raisins, and oil into a food processor and buzz until nuts breakdown to a course texture.
3. Before draining pasta, remove one cup of cooking water from the pot and add to the mixture in the food processor, pulsing as you go.
4. Drain pasta and immediately toss with nut mixture until well coated. Serve now, while it’s hot. Add a grind of fresh pepper. Garnish with basil, cherry tomatoes or a good grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Sovarato cheese.
Notes
Because of the salt added to the pasta water and the natural saltiness of anchovy, there’s no need for added salt in this recipe. Like any dish, be sure you taste before you season.
Cooking in her home kitchen just outside Ottawa, Canada; Cori Horton is a food photographer and recipe blogger. A Cordon Bleu-trained Chef, Cori spent five years as the owner of Nova Scotia's Dragonfly Inn and has been sharing all things delicious - right here - since 2010.
This Post Has 0 Comments