It's in her cookbook, Cucina del Sole: A Celebration of Southern Italian Cooking from what I could find. Maybe someone here has that book. It shouldn't be too hard to wing it, though if nobody posts the recipe.

thanks for narrowing it down to a specific book!

I saw today's episode as well and thought the sauce for the pasta sounded very good. I went to one of her websites, but they haven't posted the recipe yet. Check it out: www.LidiasItaly.com

I just watched that episode, too, her new show, Lidia's Italy, so it's probably in her new book that just came out!

hi! I was looking for the same recipe after seeing the same show and that is how i came across your post-found it for you, only i dont remember her using breadcrumbs,do you?!:
Lunch with Lidia
Pasta col pesto trapanese
Pasta with pesto in the style of Trapani

Ingredients:

1 pound of pasta (This dish is traditionally made with busiate, a pasta from the town of Trapani, but impossible to find elsewhere. You can use spaghetti or fusilli.)
6 ripe tomatoes
1 clove of garlic (Trapanesi like this dish reeking of garlic, we like less)
4 TB peeled almonds
6 TB extra-virgin olive oil
2 handfuls of fresh basil
1 TB of fresh mint
Salt & pepper
4 TB breadcrumbs
Makes 4-6 servings. (4 Sicilian portions or 6 normal ones)

Preparation: Toss the peeled almonds in a non-stick pan over a medium flame until they are lightly toasted, being careful not to burn them. Peel and seed the tomatoes and cut into pieces. Grind the almonds in a food processor or nut grinder, and set aside. Put the prepared tomatoes, garlic, basil, mint, salt, and pepper in a mortar and work with the pestle until the ingredients are well-blended. (Technically, you should be producing any kind of pesto by hand with a mortar and pestle, but a food processor gives excellent results). Add the oil and ground almonds.

In a non-stick pan, toast the breadcrumbs until they are golden, and set aside in a small bowl. Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water, until it is al dente. Briefly drain it, and put the pasta in a large bowl and mix with the pesto sauce. Put into serving dishes and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs. Accompany with a Sicilian red wine such as Regaleali Rosso.
Buon appetito!

(Many thanks to Zia Lidia, who invited us to lunch at her beach house numerous times this summer.)

Great, thanks for posting. No, I don't remember breadcrumbs on top but I do remember her sprinkling the dish with grated cheese. I don't remember her saying anything about peeled almonds either. I remember her using whole almonds and I remember her using whole (cut in halves) small tomatoes - the kind of cherry you can by at the market on a vine). I'd like to give this recipe a try.

Pesto Trapanese with Spaghetti

- serves 4 -
Adapted from Jamie's Italy

Ingredients

1 pound spaghetti
1/4 pound almonds, skin on or off
1 clove garlic, peeled
4 large handfuls fresh basil leaves
5 oz grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese
Good olive oil
1 pound cherry tomatoes, blistered in a dry skillet

Procedure

1. Bring a large pot of salty water to boil and cook the spaghetti until al dente.

2. Meanwhile, warm the almonds in a dry pan until just lightly toasted, then transfer to a food processor and process into a coarse powder. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the basil and garlic with a little oil to the food processor, blend, then stir into the almonds.

3. Add the cheese, then squeeze the tomatoes and their juice into the mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then add oil to loosen the mixture until it's the right pesto consistency. Add some pasta water if it's getting too oily.

4. Toss the cooked pasta with the pesto, reserving some pasta water to add (if necessary) to keep it from drying out. Serve immediately.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dinner Tonight: Pesto Trapanese