Last week following my post on Marti's photos from Sicily, Stuart Fox sent along an email that was akin to several hundred I received from others:
Marc, I'm drooling on my keyboard over the photos and descriptions you posted by Marti in Sicily. What's the chance that Marti might share her recipe for pistachio cream sauce?
I asked Marti, and she graciously sent along the following:
Marc, my recipe is a bit improvised, and I am not as dogmatic about it as some are, but I found one that's close to how I make my sauce. The recipe is enough for three or four hungry diners.
I use cavati pasta (above), but something shaped like rigatoni or trofie, which will trap the sauce, or fettuccine or linguine would also be fine.
Crema di Pistachio
Ingredients
- 1 pound of pasta
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 20g or 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 or 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 125g or 4 oz pistachio raw, unsalted,
- 200 ml 1 cup heavy cream—or half and half. I use milk and just reduce the sauce
- 30g or ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
- Chop the pistachio nuts in a food processor
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet large enough to hold the cooked pasta
- Add the butter and let it melt
- Stir in the garlic and continue to cook for another minute until fragrant
- Add the chopped pistachio nuts and stir for about two minutes to lightly toast them.
- Add the cream and simmer to thicken the sauce.
If the sauce seems too thick you can add some pasta water or milk.
Add the cooked pasta, stir, and then stir in the grated Parmesan cheese. Garnish with the remaining nuts.
Enjoy! Marti
JazzWax track: Here are a few inspirational albums to go with your kitchen work on this recipe:
Here's a full album by the Rosa Balistreri...
Here's a full album of relaxing Sicilian songs...
And here are three hours of Mina...
