In Liguria, where both the pasta and the pesto come from, trofie is never served with pesto alone. Potato and green beans go into the same pot as the pasta. It sounds like too much starch on one plate, and then you eat it and understand.
What you need
- 500g Farina trofie
- 1 jar basil pesto
- 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
- 150g green beans, topped and cut in half
- Salt
- Parmigiano, to serve
Method
- Boil a large pot of salted water. One pot does everything here, so give it room.
- Potatoes first. In they go for 5 minutes on their own — they take the longest.
- Then the trofie and the beans together. Cook for the time on the pasta packet. Everything finishes at the same moment, which is the whole trick of the dish.
- Save a mug of the cooking water before you drain. You will need it, and everyone forgets.
- Drain, and put the pesto in the warm empty pot — not on the heat. Loosen it with two tablespoons of the cooking water until it moves like cream.
- Return everything to the pot and fold it through gently. Add more water a spoonful at a time until every piece is coated and nothing is sitting in a pool.
- Serve at once, with cheese and black pepper.
Notes
Never cook pesto. Heat turns basil dark and flat and makes the oil taste tired. The residual warmth of the pasta and the pot is all it needs. This is the single most common mistake with pesto and it is the one that matters.
On trofie. Short, twisted, hand-rolled in shape — the twist traps pesto in a way that a flat shape cannot. Penne will not do the same job.
Serves 4 generously, or 6 as a first course.