First courses recipes

Trofie with pesto sauce

Trofie al pesto

Ingredients for 4 servings:
350 gr of white flour
50 gr of bran
Salt

For the pesto sauce:
2 large handfuls of basil leaves
1 tbsp of pecorino (Sardinian, slightly spicy)
1 tbsp of Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmesan)
1 clove of garlic
1 handful of pine nuts
1 glass of extra virgin olive oil
salt

Ready in: about 90 minutes

How to prepare the recipe: "Trofie with pesto sauce":
Let’s start with the dough: place flour and bran on a spianatoia (work surface) with a pinch of salt; make a hole in the center and pour water a little at a time until you get a firm dough.
Work well the dough, then cut it into pieces, roll them on a floured work surface and form sticks and cut them in little pieces (size of a chickpeas more or less).
Pass the gnocchi on the tines of a fork, proceeding roughly as potato gnocchi.
Now let’s make the sauce: wash the basil leaves and let them dry on a canvas, then put them in a mortaio (pestle) with the garlic, pine nuts and salt. Pound the leaves against the bottom and the edges of the pestle to reduce everything to a pulp, mixing oil a little at a time and, in the end, adding the pecorino and the parmigiano previously grated together.
Once you have finished to prepare the trofie, boil them in plentiful boiling and salted water, drain them and season with abundant pesto. Serve immediately.

Preparation: 60 minutes
Cooking: 30 minutes
Difficulty: medium

Chef's advice
This is a typical starter dish of the Ligurian cuisine, specifically from the East Coast. You can add to the pesto punded walnuts or hot chili pepper. You can change bran with pangrattato (bread crumbs).