Trofie al Pesto Genovese

La storia di questo piatto

Liguria is a thin green ribbon of land between mountains and sea, and this is its most fragrant signature: Genoese basil, crushed with pine nuts, garlic, aged cheeses and Ligurian olive oil. Trofie, small twisted pasta, hold potatoes and green beans in a gentle embrace, as the table has always done on this coast.

Ingredienti

• 400 g Fresh or dried trofie
• 65 g DOP Genoese basil (of which 5 g of small leaves for garnish)
• 30 g Pine nuts
• 1 cloves Garlic
• 50 g Grated Parmigiano Reggiano DOP
• 25 g Grated sweet Sardinian pecorino or Fiore Sardo
• 100 ml Extra virgin olive oil from Liguria (of which 10 ml for the final drizzle)
• 3 g Coarse sea salt (for the mortar)
• 150 g Yellow-fleshed potatoes
• 100 g Fresh green beans
• 30 g Coarse salt for the cooking water

Preparazione

1. Place the peeled garlic clove, the pine nuts and a pinch of the coarse salt in the marble mortar. Pound with the pestle until you obtain an irregular cream: the pine nuts must not turn into flour, but remain somewhat broken up.
2. Rinse the basil leaves (set aside 5 g of small leaves for garnish, already included in the 65 g) and dry them gently by patting them with a cloth: any remaining water spoils the color and flavor. Add the remaining leaves to the mortar little by little, with the leftover coarse salt helping to break down the leaves and release their green color. Pound and crush the leaves against the walls with a firm but steady rotating motion, without rushing, so the basil does not heat up and blacken.
3. Stir in the grated Parmigiano and pecorino and keep turning the pestle. Drizzle in 90 ml of oil, little by little, stirring constantly, until you obtain a glossy cream of a bright, beautiful green. Set aside the remaining 10 ml of oil for the garnish.
4. Bring about 4 liters of water to a generous boil with 30 g of coarse salt. Peel the potatoes, cut them into roughly 1 cm cubes and boil them for 5 minutes. Add the green beans, broken into two or three pieces, and the trofie, and cook everything together for the time indicated on the package: 4-5 minutes for fresh trofie, 10-12 for dried. Before draining, reserve a ladleful of the cooking water.
5. In a large bowl, loosen the pesto with 2-3 tablespoons of hot cooking water until you obtain a fluid cream. Drain the trofie, potatoes and green beans, add them to the bowl and toss with slow, gentle movements, adding a little more cooking water if needed. The heat of the pasta is enough to make the pesto creamy, without any need for a flame.
6. Serve immediately, on warm plates, because this is a dish that does not wait. Finish with the 10 ml of reserved oil (about a tablespoon) and the 5 g of set-aside fresh basil leaves. Genoese pesto is never cooked.