Sicilian countryside summers & pasta with Trapanese pesto, episode 8

We are Mia and Massi, we live on this beautiful island called Sicily, join us on our adventures around the island making and eating local cuisine. On our villa D.I.Y’s and on our simple slow living, this is our Sicilian Dolce vita, venite con noi! #livinginitaly #travel #sicilytourism #vlog

PESTO TRAPANESE RECIPE:
300 grs fresh pasta (we used trofie)
1 garlic
70 grs of grated parmigiano or pecorino
20 grs of almonds
5 tbs of olive oil
pinch of salt, pepper and chilli flakes
half a cup of fresh basil
follow video for method, enjoy.

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We are Mia and Masi. We live on this beautiful island called Sicily. Join us on our adventures around the island and making and eating local cuisine, on our villa DIYs, and on our simple slow living. This is our Sicilian Dolce Vita Venite Conoi. [Music] [Music] Okay. [Music] Nice. [Music] Nearly fell. It is hard to describe our slow Sicilian countryside summers to someone who has never experienced it, but I will try. The main emphasis is to savor the simple pleasures which are like a feast for the senses. You forget about any form of entertainment. You don’t need alcohol or a lot of money. Days are spent outside Alfresco, eating, swimming, sunbathing, and doing normal countryside chores. The fragrance of jasmine, lemons, and almond trees almost inebriate you. The sound of the chicadas together with the crow of the rooster become a gentle nostalgic hum. a recollection of when our family gets together with food, fun, joy, and laughter. This to me is something irreplaceable and will be continued on with my grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. Okay, thank you. Done. We have spent a whole week together. Lisa, my sister, her husband, and their son Charlie came and stayed in their villa, which is right next door to ours. We have a little gate that we go through. For those of you who watch our channel know, it is something unescribable and so beautiful. We wake up in the morning, have coffee together, and basically pop in and out of each other’s villas whenever we want to. Today is the day that she has to leave and seeing their villa starting to empty is quite sad. But we are happy that we had the opportunity to stay next door to each other. Right. So I have this morning done a couple of jobs. Cut the palm tree cuz there was some dead leaves. So I’ve cut it back quite a bit. And um it’s going to it’s it’s getting higher than the malbury tree. It’s really getting high. And yeah, while I’ve done that, I just thought I’d get the hose out. Obviously going to do my morning water. I watered the grass this morning. This afternoon, probably going to have to cut it because there are bits that are growing out of hand. So I’ll cut that later on when the grass does dry because now I’ve watered it. Uh give that a chance to dry off. And then um it is really hot today. So I’m not going to go on the roof cuz I was supposed to go on the roof, do a roof thing, but it’s really hot and it’ll probably kill me. The kids are now going in the pool cuz it is really hot. It’s it’s half 9 in the morning. Uh and it’s like it would be in the afternoon. So yeah, water kids pool grasp. We then went to visit our friends Lilo and Angela from the channel The Sicilian Dream. They came over for 3 weeks, stayed in Avala where they’ve bought a beautiful little house. They came with their family and we had a little get together. It was great. [Music] [Music] So today we’re going to make a pesto trap. Pesto trap obviously from trapony. It’s a sauce they make with a pesto they make from trap. I would call it more of a saucy pesto because I’ve got tomatoes. I’ve added a piece of garlic in the tomatoes cut up. I’ve got your Parmesan cheese grated. I’ve got some almonds which I have already broken up roughly in a pestl and mortar, some olive oil, salt and pepper, and some love. We’re now going to show you the method of how we’re going to do that. So, it is quite easy. Pesto is just putting everything into a bowl, whizzing it up. I’ve got a hand mixer. If you’ve got a normal whizzer, which is basically a little whizzer with a with a propeller in it, that’s fine. We’re going to now mix it all up in there. So, I’m going to go in with the tomatoes first. So, we get all those tomatoes and some garlic that I put in there into the bowl which I’m going to mix it up in. Next in, we’re going to get those almonds which I have broken up in the pestl and water. Get them all in there. Lovely. Almonds came from our garden. These almonds we actually picked a few days ago. Maria’s dried them out in the sun and I’ve just peeled them now. I’m keeping the skin on. You can do it without skin as well. And you get your basil in there as well, which I’ve also got that from the garden today. We’re going to put parmesan cheese. I would say it would be maybe 50 to 70 grams of Parmesan cheese. You want it nice and cheesy, don’t you? Could you substitute the almonds with pine nuts? Uh, no. Because in trap, they use the almonds. That’s why it is a trapz. So, yeah. I see. Okay. And and then I’m going to go in with the olive oil. I feel like almonds are tastier and crunchier. Okay, the olive oil I’m putting quite a lot in to get a bit of liquid going in there. It’s going to be easier to mix it all up in. Once you’ve done all that, get your whizzer, put it in there, and whiz up until you get into a pesto. Here we go. [Applause] [Applause] Right. So, while I’m putting the water on, I’ll just explain something to you. I have left it very chunky and rustic. It’s the way we like it. You can make it as more liquid as you want. I like it like that. So, it’s nice and rustic and chunky. It’s also because I left the skin on the almonds. And the fiber in the skin in the almonds is really good for you if you didn’t know. I’m turning the water on now. The water goes on. I’m going to wait for the water to boil. Water boils, pasta in. Once the pasta is in, you strain the pasta, leaving some water in because you want to add some of the water to the pesto. And you just cook it onto onto the hob. Two ingredients that I didn’t mention before. I’ve put pepper on red pepper. I put it to taste. Chili chili flakes and salt. But I will let you know that in the description you will have the amounts in there. I didn’t say anything about the mounts because it’s in the description. So, to get the video to go really quickly, let’s hear the reason why. So, my pasta water is boiling. Remember to always boil the pasta water. Adding salt in there. Perfect. Get your pasta in there. And this is a fresh pasta, so it’s going to cook really quickly. Going to be in there for about 5 minutes. I have now got the pasta to where it has to be. It is fresh pasta. I’ve only cooked it for 5 minutes. I’ve now lightly warm the sauce. So now I’m going to put the pasta from straight from there with a strainer with a hand strainer straight into the sauce or pesto sauce. And I’m going to finish cooking it off in there. As I’m putting it in, there’s obviously water from the pasta coming in there as well. So it gives it time to cook off. As you can see with the heat, it amalgamates really well. And as you’re going, the pasta will start picking up the sauce, absorbing the sauce into the pasta, and we kind come nice and creamy. Some people would tend to put cream in this dish. I wouldn’t do that. um cream. The fat of the cream is way too much. It’s got enough cream in it. So that’s why I’m using the pasta water which gives it that creamy finish. Oh, the odor coming out of that beautiful smell. Wow. Absolutely. Right. So I have turned it off. The only reason is because cast iron pan holds the heat a lot. So I’ve turned the gas off. I’m going to finish turning it about. You can actually see how the pasta gets the sauce to cling to it. So it absorbs it very well. This is a very nice pasta. I would really suggest to use this pasta or you can use a pasta from u from masala. It’s called busiada. A little bit bigger than what this is. And it’s a twisted pasta. That’s called the pussiata. Try and remember that name. Time to dish up. Best part. Wow. A nice grate of parmesan. Fresh parmesan on there is beautiful. I would also put a drop of olive oil, extra virgin olive oil to give it that extra flavor. Now for the best part to taste the bonito. Bonap potatoito. Oh wow. Well done. Well done to you. Very nice. Amazing. very Oh, I can taste the the the um almonds because you did it um rustic. So, that’s really nice. I like the crunch. Um the tomato is beautiful. Just everything compliments each other. Very nice. Perfect combination. Have fun and enjoy. I’m going to enjoy this. See you later. All right. Have a nice day. Yeah. Love you. Love you. The cobwebs. [Music] Karen. Imagine the size of these spiders. Incredible. We want to think about. Let’s not think about it. Let’s go. Okay. So, we are in Pala. Also known, well, it’s actually Valadanapo. Our mate gets angry when we call it Pantalica because it’s actually called Valanapo, but everyone knows it as Pantalikica. And we’ve just come for a nice hike and a swim. And so beautiful. Oh, beautiful. And we’ve been slack. We haven’t been all summer, have we, Karen? No, we haven’t. We haven’t done any a lot of walking at all this year. Karen went away on a nice cruise. And I went to England for my son’s wedding. So, sorry I’m holding your hand. Best friend. And finally, we’re here. Yay. So, we’re going to take you with us. Karen’s just noticed the rainbow in the waterfall. Magnificent. It is. It’s beautiful. Oh, I’m so happy to be back. [Music] Take a ride. I’ve got the perfect place in mind. We’ve got another so to hide on the love of mine. [Music] First one away. [Music] Let’s find a broccoli stream, my friend. Who cares if we’re a little late again [Music] on black mountain [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Applause] place. It feels like home. [Music] Okay, we spent a lovely half day here just relaxing, had a bit of a swim, and now we’re making our way back to the car. and back home. There’s Karen behind. So, this is how we have to walk through the tunnels to get from one side to the other. It’s quite scary. Um, but we put our phone. Yeah. a little niche here. Ooh. And um I once done this on my own, Karen. Really? Yeah. Shut my knickers when I did it, but yeah. [Music] Coming towards the end of the tunnel. We are coming towards the end. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Russ, what are you doing with these birds? Okay, I’ve had many birds born. Yeah. Hatched. So, got to get rid of them cuz there’s too many. And I’ve got a friend that buys them pet shop. Yeah. And that lady was right. The cage is a bit too small for all these birds. So, it made us think about it. We’re going to drive out to Saguza and we’re going to get get them sold. Okay, that’s nice. Let’s go. So, um we just come back from Sakuza, gone to a friend’s pet shop. I took those finches, the short tailed finches. I took them to his shop, sold them to him. Uh he was pretty happy to have them. I’ve got a few more to sell off, but I’m not going to sell them now. They’re still too young. Um, yeah. So, it seems to be okay. It goes all well. And now we got home and we’re going to light the fire, cook some sausages and potatoes in the oven. Yummy. So, while M’s cleaning the pizza oven, because it hadn’t been cleaned um since we had the pizzas, which was what, a day or two ago, I am going to peel the potatoes and put them together with a sausage in a tray and he’s going to pop that in the oven. But obviously, that oven will only be ready in a couple of hours. Um, we just need any excuse to cook in the pizza oven. We absolutely love eating from on that pizza oven. Um, tomorrow we are probably going to be going to the beach. We’re going to set up super early and I still don’t know which beach I would like to go to. I don’t want to go to a beach where it’s going to be super crowded, but it is Saturday, so it’s going to be a little bit impossible, but we’ll see how that goes. Right. I thought I have two words about my oven. This oven, I have said this before on on the channel. This oven took me two times to make it. the third time to refinish it again. I love this oven. It’s small. Everyone says to me, “But it’s so small.” The only big defect that is that it’s low. I could have made it higher, but it is the perfect oven. I’ve lit this oven, I’d say maybe just under an hour ago, and it’s ready to put food in it. It’s small oven. It heats up massively quick. Very, very quick. And I just I love making fires in here. Let me show you what it looks like on the inside. M. He’s very proud of his pizza oven. A lot of people nowadays buy their pizza oven. Yeah. Yeah. I made this oven out of old bricks that we had from the other old oven when we first got Yeah. So, you upcycled? Yeah. I just dismantled it. And the only bricks that I bought for it is these ones on the outside. Yeah. And the tube. Finished off. Well, the tube. Yeah. Um, everything is all recycled. Even the base of it. Those are the the old ones that we had. slates that I had in the bottom of the other one. And I’ve just recycled this oven. So, it works perfectly and it’s actually better than what I expected. It is a really good oven. And I um if I have to make another one, it’s going to be bigger and higher. Yeah, a little bit higher obviously, but it is low. So, what it takes me just up to where my waist is and I’m short. So, yeah, it could be a lot higher. I would say the next one I’d be would be above up to my chest level, which is actually going to be good. But this is the most beautiful oven I’ve ever worked with. It’s small, easy to work. Cooks beautifully. Cooks beautifully, and I don’t need I’m not in a restaurant, so it’s perfect for us. [Applause] Looking nice, eh? Is the pot ready? Yeah. Okay. [Music] Let us know how you spend your summer. Okay, that’s all for this week. Please like, subscribe, and comment. And see you next week with a brand new one. Ciao.