BUSIATE PASTA WITH TRAPANESE PESTO AND FRIED EGGPLANTS

Ingredients

for 4 persons:

• 2 big cloves of garlic

• 1 tbsp almonds

• 1/2  bunch of basil

• 12-15 ripe cherry tomatoes, halved

• 1 pinch of sea salt

• 2 tbsp of Parmigiano Reggiano very finely grated

• 2 tbsp of Italian Pecorino Romano very finely grated

• 4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

• 1 eggplant

• Vegetable oil for frying, preferably Sunflower oil

• 8 oz  busiati (or spaghetti)

Directions

TRAPANESE PESTO

Method 1: Mortar pestle

Put the garlic, almonds and salt in the mortar pestle and crush them into a fine paste.  Then add the basil leaves few at a time and keep crushing the paste until the sauce is finely ground.  Then add the halved cherry tomatoes few at a time and mash them well.  At the end pour the 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and both types of grated cheese and stir.

Method 2: Electric mixer/Hand mixer

Put the garlic, almonds and salt in the mixer and blend them into a fine paste.  Then add the basil leaves and the halved cherry tomatoes and mix till the sauce is finely ground adding 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.  Then put in a bowl and add the other 2 tablespoons of olive oil and both types of grated cheese and stir.

FRIED EGGPLANTS

1. Wash the eggplant and cut it into 1 cm thick slices.  Put the slices in a big bowl full of cold water and add a handful of sea salt.  Stir and leave the slices to soak for ½ hour. This will take their natural bitterness away.

2. Then drain the eggplant slices and dry them well.  Shallow fry them in a frying pan with hot vegetable oil in batches and put the ready ones on a plate lined with kitchen paper to absorb the excess oil.  Keep adding oil to the frying pan as needed.

BUSIATE PASTA

1. In the meantime, cook busiati following the steps on “How to cook pasta al dente”.  Only in this case you will not have a pre set cooking time.  This will vary on the thickness of your busiati (it should take approximately between 8 to 10 minutes).  So, the best solution is to taste it!  Remember, it does have to remain firm.

2. When the pasta is cooked, drain it and serve it with the pesto sauce on top.  Add a little extra olive oil if required, some grated cheese and some slices of fried eggplant on the top.