Ingredients

• 1/4 cup blanched whole almonds
• 1 bunch of fresh sweet basil
• 2-3 anchovy fillets
• 1 chili (to taste)
• 250g ripe roma cherry tomatoes (preferably on the vine)
• 1/4 cup olive oil (Best virgin quality)
• 250g medium thickness spaghetti
• 100g Parmesan cheese
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Salt

Steps

• Step 1

  Boil a large pot of water for your spaghetti.

• Step 2

  Place your almonds in a an oven proof tray and roast for 10 minutes in a preheated oven at 180ºC 350ºF (keep an eye on them as once they start to brown they can burn very quickly).

• Step 3

  Once your water is boiling add salt, then spaghetti. Read cooking instructions on pack, normally around 15 minutes.

• Step 4

  Add all the olive oil to a cold pan.

• Step 5

  Crush, peel and chop garlic finely (You can also use a garlic press). Add garlic to frying pan.

• Step 6

  Chop half a chili finely, add to frying pan.

• Step 7

  Chop the anchovy fillets finely, add to frying pan.

• Step 8

  Remove roasted almonds if cooked (They should be light brown in colour).

• Step 9

  Turn on the heat on frying pan and gently sweat the garlic, chili and anchovies.

• Step 10

  Slice the cherry tomatoes in half and add to frying pan.

• Step 11

  Using a potato masher or other suitable utensil, lightly crush the tomatoes to squeeze out half of their juices. Simmer on very low heat for 5 minutes.

• Step 12

  Add your almonds to a mortar and pestle and pound until you get a rough medium coarse crumb.

• Step 13

  Pluck the leaves of your basil, and add to mortar and pestle (keep a few for garnish).

• Step 14

  Add some salt to basil and with the pestle, crush the basil into a puree.

• Step 15

  Add half of the crushed almonds to your mortar and mix with basil into a pesto paste.

• Step 16

  Blitz your Parmesan cheese in a food processor until you get a coarse crumbly texture.

• Step 17

  Add the pesto to your frying pan (tomato sauce) and mix well.

• Step 18

  Once your spaghetti is cooked, add it straight from water pot to the frying pan, don’t worry about the water as you need to also add half a cup of the pasta water into the mix.

• Step 19

  Add the crushed almonds (Keep a little for garnish).

• Step 20

  Add the cheese (Keep a little for garnish).

• Step 21

  Toss pasta, mix well and serve on a hot plate.

• Step 22

  Garnish with cheese and almond crush and a few fresh basil leaves.

Little Tips

Cook pasta slightly less than al dente as it will finish cooking in the pan.
Always heat up your plates before serving.
You can also use standard cherry tomatoes, the riper the better.