Pasta alla Genovese

Modern trofie seems to originate from Golfo Paradiso, a strip of land in the Riviera di Levante including maritime towns like Recco, Sori, Camogli and other comuni in the area. This pasta shape was not so common in Genoa until the mid-20th century, though the term trofie was already in use here and referred to gnocchi as a whole: Genoese trofie was traditionally made with either wheat or chestnut flour and, from the beginning of the 19th century, with the addition of potatoes also.

Today trofie is a staple of modern Ligurian cuisine and it also comes in a small version called trofiette in Italy.

Trofie is shaped by rolling a small piece of dough on a flat surface to form a short, round length of pasta with tapered ends, then twisting it to form the final shape. It is around 2–3 cm (0.8–1.2 in) long with a diameter of roughly 4 mm (0.2 in). The average cooking time is 15 minutes.
In Italian cuisine, it is most typically served with a pesto sauce.

 

What you need

For the pasta

• 400g-450g trofie or another kind of dried pasta, such as spaghetti
• large pinch salt
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut roughly into 1cm chunks
• 2-3 carrots, sliced thickly
• 110g green beans, cut into half
• 50 g pecorino cheese, grated

For the pesto

• 75g fresh basil leaves
• 60g pine nuts
• 60g parmesan
• 2-3 garlic cloves
• 100-125ml olive oil

 

How to prepare it

1. To make the pesto, put the basil leaves into the bowl of a food processor. Add the pine nuts.
2. Chop the parmesan into small chunks and add to the food processor.
3. Roughly chop the garlic and add to the food processor.
4. Turn the processor on and process until the basil and cheese are chopped finely. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula and ensure there are no large chunks remaining - if there are, blend again briefly.
5. Turn the food processor on again and, with the motor running, add the olive oil in a thin stream through the funnel in the lid.
6. Check the consistency - it should be thick and just drop off a spoon.
7. To cook the pasta, bring a large pan of well-salted water to the boil then add the pasta.
8. Trofie pasta takes about 15 minutes to cook so, after 8-9 minutes, add the potatoes and carrots and bring back to the boil (if your pasta takes less time to cook you'll need to add the carrots and potatoes sooner).
9. Allow to boil for a further two more minutes then add the beans and cook for another three minutes.
10. By the time the trofie is perfectly cooked but still firm (al dente), the vegetables will be nicely cooked. Drain the pasta and vegetables and reserve somes liquid. Mix the pasta and vegetable with the pesto and reserved liquid. 
11. Serve with pecorin.