Ainsley Harriott Pasta Alla Trapenese with Black Olive Mollica Recipe

Ainsley Harriott’s Pasta Alla Trapanese Recipe is the pasta dish that changes how you think about pesto. Trapanese is the Sicilian cousin of the more famous Genovese — made with fresh tomatoes, toasted almonds, garlic, basil, and pecorino instead of pine nuts, it is lighter, sharper, and more interesting on a warm evening than anything from a jar. Ainsley first made this Trapanese recipe as part of his Taste of Malta series on ITV, drawing on the deep culinary connection between Malta and Sicily — a shared love of olive oil, ripe tomatoes, and pasta done well.

The real move here is the mollica: breadcrumbs toasted in olive oil with black olives, chilli flakes, lemon zest, and parsley, scattered over the finished bowl in place of extra cheese. It adds crunch, salt, and brightness that lifts the whole dish. Furthermore, good olive oil is not optional in this recipe — Maltese olive oil is among the finest in the Mediterranean, rich and golden, and it makes a genuine difference to the finished pesto.

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Ainsley Harriott Pasta Alla Trapanese Ingredients

For the Trapanese Pesto and Pasta

• 325g fresh vine cherry or baby plum tomatoes (or peeled medium vine tomatoes)
• 500g busiate, cassarecce or similar short pasta
• 70g blanched almonds
• 1–2 cloves of garlic, peeled
• Small bunch (25g) of basil, leaves picked
• 8–10 fresh mint leaves
• 70g pecorino cheese, grated (or vegan Italian-hard cheese)
• 5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ lemon, for squeezing
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Black Olive Mollica

• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 slices of white or wholegrain bread, blitzed to a coarse crumb
• 1 small clove of garlic, minced
• 50g black olives, pitted and chopped
• Pinch of dried chilli flakes
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

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How To Make Ainsley Harriott Pasta Alla Trapanese with Black Olive Mollica

Step 1 — Drain the Tomatoes

Pulse the tomatoes a couple of times in a food processor — enough to break them up but not purée them. Next, tip the mixture into a sieve set over a bowl and leave to drain away the excess liquid. This step matters more than it looks: tomato water in the Trapanese pesto makes the sauce thin and dull rather than textured and intense. Give it at least 5 minutes, or press gently if you’re in a hurry.

Step 2 — Toast the Almonds

Toast the blanched almonds in a dry frying pan over a medium heat until lightly golden. Keep your eye on them — almonds go from perfectly toasted to bitter and burnt faster than almost anything else in a kitchen. Afterwards, tip them onto a plate and leave to cool completely before processing. Warm almonds release more oil in the food processor and will make the pesto greasy rather than smooth and textured.

Step 3 — Make the Trapanese Pesto

Add the cooled almonds to the food processor with a good pinch of salt and the garlic. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Then add the drained tomatoes, basil, mint, and a drizzle of olive oil, and pulse until combined. With the motor running, drizzle in 4 tablespoons of olive oil until you reach your preferred texture — slightly coarse or smooth, both are correct. Tip into a bowl, stir in the grated pecorino, then taste and adjust with lemon juice, salt, pepper, and the remaining oil if needed. Set it aside and let it sit while you cook the pasta and mollica. As a result, the flavours develop considerably in just 10–15 minutes.

Step 4 — Cook the Pasta

Cook the pasta in a large pan of generously salted water until al dente — just short of fully cooked through, as it will finish in the pan with the Trapanese pesto. Before draining, scoop out a full cup of the starchy pasta water and set it aside. You will almost certainly need it.

Step 5 — Make the Black Olive Mollica

While the pasta cooks, heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs and cook, stirring constantly, for 2–3 minutes until golden and properly crisp. Then add the minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds until just fragrant — no longer, or the garlic will turn bitter. Add the chopped black olives, chilli flakes, and lemon zest, season with salt and pepper, and stir everything together. Remove from the heat immediately and stir through the fresh parsley. The mollica should be used straight away — it loses its crunch quickly once it sits.

Step 6 — Finish and Serve

Drain the pasta and return it to the pan over a low heat. Add the Trapanese pesto and toss together for about a minute, adding splashes of the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce and help it coat every piece of pasta evenly. Serve immediately in warmed bowls with a generous scattering of the black olive mollica over the top. Don’t be shy with the amount — the mollica is the point.

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Recipe Tips for the Best Pasta Alla Trapanese

Drain the Tomatoes Properly: This is the most important step in the recipe. Fresh tomatoes carry a significant amount of water, and if it goes into the Trapanese pesto, the sauce will be thin and lack depth. Five minutes in a sieve — or a gentle press with the back of a spoon — is all it takes.

Cool the Almonds Before Processing: Warm almonds release more oil under the blade and make the pesto greasy. Additionally, two minutes on a cool plate is all they need — it is worth the pause.

Quality Olive Oil Is the Flavour: Pesto is essentially an emulsion of oil and aromatics. Consequently, the quality of the oil is the flavour of the finished sauce. A rich, peppery extra-virgin olive oil — Maltese or Sicilian if you can find it — makes a genuinely different dish to a supermarket bottle bought without thought.

Save the Pasta Water: The starchy cooking water binds the pesto to the pasta and gives the sauce its silky, cohesive texture. Always save a cup before draining — you may not use all of it, but you will almost always need some.

Make the Mollica Last: Breadcrumbs lose their crunch within minutes of being made. Therefore, cook them while the pasta is in the water and use them immediately — they should go onto the bowl just before it reaches the table, not mixed into the pasta beforehand.

Short Pasta Is Not Negotiable: Busiate and cassarecce are the traditional choices — their twisted, grooved shapes trap and hold the textured pesto in a way that spaghetti or linguine cannot. If you can’t find either, rigatoni or fusilli are the best alternatives.

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What To Serve With Pasta Alla Trapanese

This Ainsley Harriott Trapanese recipe works beautifully on its own, but here are a few serving ideas worth considering:

• As a standalone: This is a complete dish — the pesto, pasta, and mollica need nothing else alongside them to be satisfying.
• A simple green salad: Dressed with lemon and olive oil, it provides a clean contrast to the richness of the almond pesto without competing with the flavours on the plate.
• Good bread: To mop up whatever pesto is left in the bowl — and there will always be some.
• A glass of crisp white wine: Vermentino or a Sicilian Grillo both work well alongside the tomato and almond pesto — wines from the same Mediterranean climate that produced the dish.
• Extra pecorino: For those who want more cheese at the table alongside the mollica — set out a small bowl and let people help themselves.

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How To Store Pasta Alla Trapanese

Store the pesto separately: Trapanese pesto keeps in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 3 days. Press a thin layer of olive oil over the surface to prevent it from oxidising and darkening.

Cooked pasta: Leftovers keep in the fridge for up to 2 days. The pasta will absorb the pesto as it sits — add a splash of water and a drizzle of olive oil when reheating gently in a pan to loosen it back up.

The mollica: Store separately in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. Re-crisp in a dry frying pan for 1–2 minutes before using — it softens quickly in the fridge and needs the heat to come back to life.

Freeze the pesto: Trapanese pesto freezes well for up to 2 months. An ice cube tray is the most practical approach — freeze in small portions so you can defrost exactly as much as you need.

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Make It Your Own — Creative Twists on Pasta Alla Trapanese

Trapanese pesto is already a twist on a classic, which means it has plenty of room to be taken further. Here’s where to go with it:

The Fully Vegan Version 🌱

Replace the pecorino with a good vegan Italian hard cheese — most major supermarkets carry a reliable option now. Everything else in the recipe is already plant-based, and the mollica is naturally vegan. With the right cheese substitute, this Trapanese dish loses nothing of its character. It is one of those recipes that happens to be easily veganised rather than one that feels diminished by it.

Roasted Tomato Trapanese 🍅

Instead of fresh tomatoes, halve them and roast at 200°C for 25–30 minutes with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of sugar until collapsed and just beginning to caramelise at the edges. Cool, drain, and use exactly as you would the fresh tomatoes in the food processor. As a result, the pesto becomes deeper, sweeter, and more intense — a winter version of the same dish that works brilliantly when fresh tomatoes are out of season.

Walnut and Sun-Dried Tomato Version 🌰

Replace the blanched almonds with walnuts and use well-drained sun-dried tomatoes in place of fresh. Reduce the olive oil slightly to account for the oil already in the tomatoes. The result is a more intense, earthy pesto with a completely different character — stronger, more assertive, and particularly good with a robust pasta like rigatoni or paccheri.

With Grilled Prawns or Swordfish 🦐

In Sicily and Malta, Trapanese pesto is often served alongside grilled seafood rather than just pasta. Toss large raw prawns in olive oil, chilli, and lemon zest and grill for 2–3 minutes per side until just cooked through and pink. Lay them over the finished pasta before adding the mollica. The sweetness of the prawns against the Trapanese tomato and almond pesto is one of those combinations that feels obvious the first time you try it.

Green Olive Mollica 🫒

Swap the black olives for Castelvetrano green olives — mild, buttery, and far less sharp than most. The mollica becomes softer in flavour, which works well if you’re serving the dish to anyone who finds black olives too dominant. Additionally, add a pinch of fennel seeds to the pan alongside the garlic for a gentle anise note that pairs naturally with the green olive.

💬 The mollica is the detail that separates this Pasta Alla Trapanese from every other pasta dish on the table. Make it last, use it immediately, and don’t be shy with the amount. It’s not a garnish — it’s the whole point.

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Ainsley Harriott Pasta Alla Trapanese Nutrition Facts

Per serving, based on 4 servings

Nutrient	Amount
Calories	580 kcal
Protein	18g
Carbohydrates	72g
Fat	26g
Saturated Fat	5g
Fibre	5g
Sugar	6g
Salt	0.8g

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FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

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