Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Shrimp and Almond Tomato Pesto
Sicilian almond and tomato pesto pounded with basil and garlic, tossed through whole wheat spaghetti and green beans with shrimp seared in olive oil.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
This is Trapani's answer to pesto, from the western corner of Sicily where the almond groves are, and it has been my hot weather dinner for years. The sauce takes four minutes in a blender and no cooking at all, which means the only thing standing between you and the table is a pot of water coming up to the boil. I cook the green beans in that same water with the pasta, so there is one pot, one skillet for the shrimp, and a blender jar to rinse. On a night when the kitchen is already warm, that matters as much as the flavor does.
The trick is the temperature. A sauce like this one is built to be warmed by the pasta rather than by the stove, so it keeps the sweet, grassy taste of tomatoes that were never heated and the almonds stay sweet rather than toasted. Drain the pasta a shade before it is done, keep a mug of the starchy water back, and toss everything hard in a warm bowl for a full minute. That water is what carries the almond sauce onto every strand and turns it from a paste into something glossy that clings.
It eats as a whole dinner, which not every plate of pasta does. There is a pound of shrimp in it, cooked hard and fast so they stay springy, and the green beans give you something with a snap between the soft strands. Chopped almonds over the top are worth the extra thirty seconds because you get the sauce and the crunch of the same ingredient in one mouthful. I put lemon wedges on the table and let people squeeze their own, since the acid is a matter of taste and the shrimp like it.
Ingredients
- 8 oz whole wheat spaghetti
- 1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined, patted dry
- 3 1/2 cups ripe cherry tomatoes, about 1 lb
- 12 oz green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths
- 1/2 cup whole blanched almonds, plus a few chopped for the top
- 2 packed cups fresh basil leaves, plus more torn for serving
- 4 garlic cloves, 1 peeled for the sauce and 3 thinly sliced
- 3 1/2 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1 tbsp lemon juice, plus wedges for the table
- 1/4 tsp cayenne, or to taste
- 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
- 1/3 tsp fine sea salt, divided, plus a little for the pasta water
Instructions
- Get the water going and make the sauce: Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. While it heats, put the almonds and the peeled garlic clove in a blender and pulse until they look like coarse sand. Add the cherry tomatoes, the basil, 2 tbsp of the olive oil, the cayenne, and half the salt, and blend in short pulses to a loose, slightly grainy sauce. It should stay flecked with green and orange rather than going smooth. Pour it into a large warm serving bowl.
- Cook the pasta and beans together: Add the spaghetti to the boiling water and cook to one minute shy of the package time. Drop the green beans in for the last 4 minutes, so they come out bright green and still squeaky. Before draining, dip a mug into the pot and save about a cup of the starchy cooking water.
- Sear the shrimp: While the pasta cooks, warm the remaining 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil in a wide skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sliced garlic and cook for 30 seconds, until it turns pale gold at the edges, then add the shrimp in a single layer with the rest of the salt and the black pepper. Cook 90 seconds without moving them, turn, and give them 60 to 90 seconds more, until they are opaque and curled into loose C shapes. Take the pan off the heat.
- Toss it all together: Drain the pasta and beans and tip them straight into the bowl of sauce along with a splash of the cooking water. Toss hard for a full minute, lifting the strands high, adding more water a little at a time until the sauce turns glossy and coats every strand. This is the step people rush, and it is the one that makes the difference.
- Finish and serve: Slide the shrimp and every drop of garlicky oil from the skillet over the pasta, add the lemon juice, and fold once or twice so the shrimp sit through the bowl rather than at the bottom. Scatter the chopped almonds and plenty of torn basil over the top and serve straight away, with lemon wedges.
Variations
- Toasted almond version: Toast the almonds in a dry pan until they smell nutty before blending, for a darker, rounder sauce that tastes of the oven.
- Chile and mint: Swap half the basil for mint and add a whole fresh chile to the blender for a hotter, brighter bowl.
- Sardine and caper: Leave out the shrimp and fold in a tin of drained sardines and a spoonful of capers at the end for a store cupboard dinner.
- Zucchini rather than green beans: Cut two zucchini into half moons and blister them in the skillet before the shrimp, then fold them through with the pasta.
- Ricotta finish: Spoon a little ricotta over each bowl and let it melt into the hot pasta for a creamier, softer version.
Storage & Leftovers
Leftovers keep three days in a sealed container in the refrigerator. The pasta drinks up the sauce as it sits, so what was glossy on the night becomes drier by the next day, and the shrimp firm up in the cold. It is still a good lunch, eaten at room temperature more happily than hot.
To reheat, warm it gently in a skillet over medium-low with a splash of water and a thread of olive oil, tossing until it loosens, about 3 minutes. Take it off as soon as it is warm through. Shrimp given a second hard heating turn rubbery, and there is no bringing them back.
I do not freeze this one. The almond sauce separates on thawing and the shrimp lose their spring. If you want a head start, blend the sauce up to two days ahead and keep it in a jar in the refrigerator with a film of olive oil on top, then bring it to room temperature while the water boils.
Notes & Tips
- Salt the pasta water properly: It is the only chance the spaghetti itself gets to be seasoned, and a sauce this simple will not cover for bland pasta underneath it.
- Pulse, do not puree: A few short bursts leave the sauce grainy and alive. Run the blender steadily and you get a smooth pink cream that has lost all its texture.
- Keep a mug of pasta water: The starch in it is what turns the almond sauce glossy and makes it cling. Plain water thins the sauce; pasta water binds it.
- Dry the shrimp: Straight from the bag they are wet, and wet shrimp steam gray in the pan. A minute with a paper towel buys you a proper sear.
- Warm the serving bowl: Fill it with hot tap water while the pasta cooks and tip it out before the sauce goes in. A cold bowl chills the sauce and dulls the basil.
- Pull the shrimp early: They finish cooking in the residual heat of the pasta. Left in the skillet until they curl into tight rings, they go tough.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Shrimp, whole wheat spaghetti, almonds, and green beans give this bowl its shape. The shrimp carry the protein, the pasta and the almonds give it staying power, and the beans and tomatoes keep something this rich tasting fresh rather than heavy.
- Shrimp cook in two minutes and stay springy when you pull them early, and they bring a good deal of protein along with selenium, one of the minerals shellfish are known for.
- Almonds are the body of this sauce, ground until they thicken it the way a nut has done in Sicilian kitchens for centuries, and they bring vitamin E and their own gentle fat with them.
- Tomatoes blended without heat keep their sweet, grassy taste and hold onto vitamin C, which is why the sauce is bright in a way a simmered tomato sauce never is.
- Basil, garlic, and a little cayenne are what you smell first when the hot pasta hits the bowl, and the lemon squeezed over at the table pulls the whole thing into focus.
- As you eat, notice how the basil comes up off the bowl in the first minute and fades after that, and take the first few forkfuls slowly enough to catch it while it is there.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use a different nut?
Almonds are what makes this Sicilian, but walnuts give you a deeper, more bitter sauce that is very good with the tomatoes, and pistachios push it green and sweet. Whatever you use, pulse the nuts with the garlic first so they break down into sand before the wet ingredients go in, or the sauce comes out gritty.
My sauce tasted flat. What happened?
Almost always the tomatoes. This dish has nowhere to hide, so pale winter cherry tomatoes give you a pale winter sauce. Buy the ripest ones you can find, leave them on the counter rather than in the refrigerator, and if they still taste thin, add a squeeze of lemon and a pinch more salt and blend again.
Can I make it with something other than shrimp?
Scallops seared the same way are excellent, and so are chunks of firm white fish cooked through in the skillet for 4 or 5 minutes. Canned tuna folded in off the heat turns it into a store cupboard dinner. Keep the searing hard and brief whatever you choose.
Is there a way to get ahead on a weeknight?
Blend the sauce and trim the beans the night before and the cooking is down to twelve minutes. Peel the shrimp when you buy them, dry them well, and keep them on a plate lined with paper towel in the refrigerator so they sear rather than steam when they hit the pan.