Cinque de Terre's Ligurian Trofie al Pesto is a delicious homemade twisted crescent shaped pasta tossed with an easy basil pesto sauce. (Step by Step How to Video Included)
Why you are going to love Trofie al Pesto...
Have you ever visited Northern Italy? If you have been to the Ligurian region, you have may have tried their famous dish, Trofie al Pesto. Lucky you, we are going to show you step by step how to make delicious homemade pasta in your own kitchen.
Have you ever tried making Trofie pasta?
"Trofie" is an Italian word referring to the short, thin twisted pasta shapes from Northern Italy in the Ligurian region. You are just going to love Trofie al Pesto with the aldente bites of the fun shaped noodles that are the perfect vessel for grabbing all of this delicious freshly made basil pesto. This pasta is a comfort dish made with just a handful of ingredients and would be a perfect side dish for your Feast of the Seven Fishes this holiday season.
Recruit Help in Hand Rolling your Trofie pasta
Will you be hosting family or friends over this holiday season or have your children home for the holidays? Trofie al pesto is a fun and interactive recipe that you can do with children as small as 2 years of age and over 98 years old. You are going to want to recruit their help in hand rolling the pasta. It is not hard to do. If you have ever played with play dough, you have a head start on the whole process. Maybe your kids will do better than you!!! However, it is a bit time consuming so all hands on deck.
This is the type of pasta anyone can make at home without any special tools just a little Double 00 flour, water, salt and little love. Scroll down to to the bottom of the page near the recipe to check out the step by step video to see the process on how to hand roll your trofie pasta.
Do you Like Making Homemade Pasta?
If you like making your own homemade fresh pasta be sure to try our 3 Cheese Spinach Ravioli and Sage Butter Sauce or Homemade Tagliatelle Pasta with Zucchini Blossoms Are you feeling ambitious this Holiday season? Be sure to try our Timpano Pasta Dome and you will steal the hearts of your friends and family forever!
Traveling the World Via your Own Kitchen
Every first Tuesday of every month, Jas from All That's Jas and Healthy World Cuisine unite to bring you a delicious NOODLE recipe from the WORLD. This week Healthy World Cuisine is going to Italy. Be sure to hop on over to All That's Jas to find her super easy and delicious recipe for her Noodles with Cabbage and Bacon Polish Haluski Recipe. We love seeing what noodle dishes you are making in your kitchen.
Be sure to tag your noodle dishes you post with #noodleswithoutborders as we love seeing what you are making in your kitchen. You do not have to be a professional photographer to participate in the fun all flip phone photos and casual shots are welcome. Did you make any noodles dishes this week?
Travel expands the mind and the palate...
The world is a very small place and is getting smaller each and every day. We do not mean in the physical sense that the earth is shrinking. However, it is through our acquaintances and experiences that brings us and the poles of the earth closer together. After living abroad, traveling abroad and sharing in a unique international world of very special foodies and travel bloggers, the world is a very small and cozy place.
What is Your Bucket List for Travel?
Food is the essence that brings every nationality together. Once you try something new, you have a new connection with that place on the globe. Learning the language and culture is also a big part of that picture. However, food tops our list of something that everyone can share, enjoy and remember. Can you share with us where you are from in the comments below and have your ever lived or visited Italy?
Cinque de Terra's Gorgeous Views, Culture and Trofie al Pesto
Our travels to Italy took us to the beautiful destination of Cinque Terre which is located on a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. It is in the Liguria region of Italy just to the west of the city of La Spezia. "The Five Lands" is composed of five villages: Monterosso al Mare,Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park. Cinque Terre is stunning and is a must do if you happen to visit this region.
Do you want to learn more about the Cinque de Terra Region?
At this delicious destination of Cinque de Terra we experienced our first delightful bite of delicious Trofie al Pesto. We contacted Letzia from Tasty Italy back in 2012 to learn more about the beautiful Cinque de Terra area and things we should try. If you want to learn more about the area, be sure to check out our guest post.
We first wrote this Trofie al pesto post in October of 2012. We have made this recipe several times since then. We wanted to share with you the things we learned along the way and a new how to video (scroll down to the bottom of the page just above the recipe for the video). However, for sentimental reasons we have kept a couple of old point and shoot photos. Does this photo make you laugh or cry? As we have mentioned above all #noodleswithoutborders hashtags are welcome.
What Makes Trofie al Pesto Extra Special?
Do you know? Any ideas of what is different about the Ligurian way of making basil pesto for Trofie al pesto? It is the addition of grass fed butter! Yes, believe it or not butter that makes it extra special, rich, cozy and makes you want to keep on going back for more. When we ate at the restaurant in the Liguria region, we asked our waitress what ingredients were in the pesto. She was delighted to be able to share with us the way her family had always made the recipe is with Butter. We are certain that every Italian family has their own twist on their version of the pesto for this recipe. Do you have a special addition to this recipe? If you are looking for another show stopper Italian pasta recipe for the holiday season, be sure to try our Timpano Pasta Dome. The Timpano Pasta Dome is a huge crowd pleaser and instagram worthy recipe.
Can We Make Trofie al Pesto Vegan or Gluten Free?
During kitchen testing of the Trofie al pesto recipe, we tried exchanging rice flour instead of a wheat based flour. It works but of course but the consistency changes a bit. In addition, the color is more white when cooked compared to traditional wheat based flour.
You will need to adjust the cooking time to a little less or until just aldente.
- Wheat based flour it takes about 3 minutes to cook depending on the size of your noodles.
- Rice based flour it was around 2 minutes to cook until aldente and of course this is also dependent on the size of your noodles. We have included recipe ingredients and instructions for the gluten-free Trofie pasta option in the recipe below.
If you want to make your pasta vegan, just do not add the parmesan cheese or butter and instead add a little more pine nuts, salt and pepper or exchange with nutritional yeast to give it that flavor profile you desire.
Helpful Hints for Making Homemade Trofie al Pesto
- Make sure you salt your water to boil your noodles really well. As the noodles only cook for about 3 minutes or until aldente, it does not absorb much of the salt flavor.
- When you noodles float up to the top of the pot, it is a sign they are close to being cooked.
- Recruit help in hand rolling your pasta if you want to eat sooner. (Kids love helping out, adults are even more productive if you hand them a glass of wine to help with their creativity)
- Try your pasta with a roasted red pepper pesto, spinach pesto or even a walnut pesto- super delicious.
- Sometimes this recipe is made with the addition of green beans and/ or sliced potatoes. Both are an a delicious addition.
- You can also make your trofie pasta in advance and let it dry. However, you will need to increase your cooking time. Fresh is always best.
- Make sure to use the BEST Extra Virgin Olive Oil you can get your hands on to make your pesto as this makes a huge difference in the authentic flavor of this recipe. We love Mie Radici olive oils.
- You can also buy Trofie pasta fresh and dried at the market, if you are short on time.
Be sure to follow our HWC Magazine You Tube Channel for more quick and tasty recipes.
Trofie al Pesto
Ingredients
Trophie Pasta
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
or 00 Flour - 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup cold water
Homemade Basil Pesto
- 2 cups basil leaves
fresh - ¼ cup pine nuts
toasted - 2 cloves garlic
peeled - ½ cup Parmesan cheese
grated - ½ cup olive oil
- 4 tablespoon butter
melted (yes! butter in the Pesto that is the Ligurian way and their special secret for deliciousness) - Salt to taste
- ½ ladle Pasta water for thinning the sauce
- Extra butter for frying up and the finishing touches to the Ligurian Trofie al Pesto (We did not say this dish was low calorie but it is amazingly delicious)
- Parmesan cheese Garnishes (optional)
- basil fresh garnish - optional
Instructions
Make the Pasta
- In a large bowl mix flour with the salt.
- Make well and add the water in the well and mix slowly with a fork.
- When the dough mixture is pulled together start mixing the dough with your hands until well incorporated. Check the dough for consistency as it should feel slightly tacky but your finger should come back clean when you push it in the dough. Add more flour if too wet and if too dry start to knead dough and see if the natural moisture from your hands will convert the dough and if not can add a little drop of water.
- Place a little dusting of flour on your wooden board and knead the dough for at least 8-10 minutes or until the dough is very smooth. Nice and easy kneading and turn your dough with each press. This is a very important step in the process to activate the glutens in the dough and give your pasta that very delicious texture.
- Form your dough into a disk shape and dust flour on top and bottom of dough and wrap tightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least one hour or even overnight.
- Form the Trofie Pasta: Sprinkle your work surface and your plates that you will be placing your formed Trofie pasta on with flour. Cut a thin rope section from the dough and roll the dough into a rope about ¼ inch size in width with your hands- kind of like what you used to do as a kid with play dough. (Make sure that your cover the remaining dough back up with plastic wrap so it does not dry out.)
- Now cut the rope horizontally into little sections about ¼ inch in size or even smaller if you can. We made ours about the size of a pencil eraser or just slightly larger.
- Take one piece of cut dough into the palm of your hand and roll in one direction from bottom of palm up to the top of your fingers. Now you should have created this adorable little crescent pasta shape. Repeat this process until you have made enough Trofie pasta to feed enough for your family/friends. Place your completed little Trofie crescents shapes on the well floured plates. (I would highly suggest you recruit your family,kids and friends in this event so you can eat sooner) It is a bit time intensive but very easy to do. Share a glass or two of fantastic Ligurian wine while you play with the dough and it goes even quicker...
Make Pesto and on to the finishing touches...
- Place fresh basil, pine nuts, garlic, parmesan cheese in blender or food processor and blend. Slowly add the oil in and continue to blend.
- Add the butter a little at a time to the food processor and keep blending until creamy and smooth. Taste and season with salt as required.
- Cooking the Trofie pasta: In a large pot bring at least 4 quarts of water to boil. Salt well as this gives flavor to the pasta.
- Once the water is at full boil, slowly add about ¼ -½ of the homemade pasta at a time to the water. Depending how large you rolled your pasta it will take between 1-3 minutes to cook your pasta until a firm aldente. Your pasta will float up to the top and you will know that is nearly cooked. Just simply test a pasta to confirm if al dente.
- Remove and drain pasta from water and set aside. Repeat with second batch of pasta. (I did it in separate batches as it is easier to manage this way and it does not drop the temperature of your water so much doing small batches at a time.)
- In a large frying pan, place a large knob of butter and add your cooked Trofie pasta. Next add about ½ to ¾ of your delicious Ligurian Pesto, ½ ladle of your pasta water and delicately stir until well incorporated. Place your delicious Trofie al Pesto in bowls and garnish with a grating of fresh Parmesan Reggiano and a sprig of fresh basil.
- Chef's notes: Make sure you a good amount of salt to your water to boil your pasta! If you want to make this recipe gluten-free substitute 00 flour or regular all purpose wheat flour with rice flour. Please note that this pasta will have a slightly different texture and will be whiter in color compared to a wheat base pasta. If you want to make this recipe vegan, exchange your parmesan cheese with a nutritional yeast and enjoy!
Gluten-Free Option:
- Mix 1 cup Asian Rice Flour (super fine), ½ cup cornstarch or potato starch, ½ teaspoon salt together in a medium bowl. Add 1 cup boiling water a little at a time and mix until in is cool enough to touch. While the dough is still in the bowl start to knead to form a ball. Then, take your dough out of the bowl. Use a little cornstarch on your hands and on the board and knead for 5- 8 minutes. Rest for at least ½ hour in plastic wrap. Form into trofie shaped pasta and boil with a little oil in the water. Boil for about 2 minutes until they start to rise to the top. The will be aldente but will still have a bit of chew in the texture. Drain and rinse with cool water. Complete the rest of the recipe as shown about for frying and adding the pesto. (FYI- needs to be super fine "Asian rice flour" and not the regular rice flour you find in the regular supermarkets and NOT glutinous rice flour. Each rice flour has their own consistency and you may need less or more water depending on the make of the flour brand. ) In Asia these noodles are sometimes called "silver noodles" and are also delicious tossed with a little garlic, ginger, chili, tamari sauce, sesame oil and chopped spring onion. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Make sure you salt your water to boil your noodles really well. As the noodles only cook for about 3 minutes or until aldente, it does not absorb much of the salt flavor.
- When you noodles float up to the top of the pot, it is a sign they are close to being cooked.
- Recruit help in hand rolling your trofie pasta if you want to eat sooner. (Kids love helping out, adults are even more productive if you hand them a glass of wine to help with their creativity)
- Try your trofie al pesto with a roasted red pepper pesto, spinach pesto or even a walnut pesto- super delicious.
- Sometimes this recipe is made with the addition of green beans and/ or sliced potatoes. Both are an a delicious addition.
- You can also make your trofie pasta in advance and let it dry. However, you will need to increase your cooking time. Fresh is always best.
- Make sure to use the BEST Extra Virgin Olive Oil you can get your hands on to make your pesto as this makes a huge difference in the authentic flavor of this recipe. We love Mie Radici olive oils.
- You can also buy Trofie pasta fresh and dried at the market, if you are short on time.
kitchenriffs says
Gosh, I love all pasta, and this look wonderful. Easy to make, too. Off to read the guest post as well . . .
Healthy World Cuisine says
Trofie al Pesto is an easy dish to make. Just a bit time consuming as the little pastas are very small, however even kids can do it. I think you will really enjoy dutchgoesitalian with Letizia. She posts many recipes and has great information about travel in Italy. Take care, BAM
Karen says
Love the beautiful color of green in your photo...terrific. I have had this dish but didn't realize there was butter. Thanks for the proper recipe.
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks Karen. Wow, how fantastic for you that you have tried this dish previously. Did you eat in Liguria? Take Care, BAM
Alex says
I was absolutely delighted with this post... Every photo, scenery and cooking, is amazing.
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thank you for you kind comment. You made my day. Take care, BAM
Mich - Piece of Cake says
I am so impressed with your home made pasta. Looks absolutely divine with that beautiful green pesto sauce.
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks. I was also very impressed on how green and vibrant the pesto sauce stays if you make it and use in with in a few hours of blending it. Take Care, BAM
thecompletecookbook says
Beautiful photographs, beautiful food, fabulous!
🙂 Mandy
Healthy World Cuisine says
I wish I was still in Italy. This is a country I would love to live in. The beautiful people, the culture and all of the gorgeous food is just too good to be true.
jothetartqueen says
Wow Bam..you are quite an expert on pasta making ever since you got back from Italy. Thanks for sharing with us this Ligurian dish. I've heard great things about Cinque de Terres. I need to head back to Italy soon!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hello Jo, If you do ever head back to Italy put the beautiful Cinque Terre on your bucket list. Do you like hiking? If so, this is also a great destination to do a little exploration and see some beautiful shore line sites.
daisyandthefox says
the pasta looks soooo delicious!!! i'm actually salivating...
and beautiful pictures! 🙂
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thank you very much. Stop on by, Healthy World Cuisine is always open. Take care, BAM
Dawn says
Happy Halloween - looks so amazing!!!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks Dawn! I actually had a couple of trick or treaters here in Hong Kong. I guess there is a first time for everything. Take care, BAM
Eha says
How can one go wrong? With your oh so careful instructions? And the photos which call out: 'Make me, make me'! Love the recipe for the Ligurian pesto: no, I would not have thought butter entered the arena! The photos are too enticing for one not to try 🙂 !
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thank you Eha for your kind comments. I also found that quite intriguing that the pesto has butter. I asked the locals about this recipe and they told me about the butter and trust me I see how it works in this dish and extra creamy layer of flavoring. Take care, BAM
Korena in the Kitchen says
How delicious does this sound! I love learning about making different types of pasta. Cinque Terre is definitely on my list of places to visit one day 🙂
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks Korena. If you do ever visit be sure to order their signature dish Trofie al Pesto as you cannot find this kind of pasta in any other place in Italy. This pasta is very specific to this region or you can give my recipe a try. Take care, BAM
ChgoJohn says
What a great post! I've not heard of Trofie pasta and learning about it here, as well as how to make it, is a real treat. You know me, BAM, and one of these days I'll be making some for myself. How could I not?
I've never been to Cinque Terra and always intended to go there. I've toured Central and Southern Italy; Northern Italy was to be next. One day ...
Healthy World Cuisine says
Bonjourno John! I am so happy that I could enlighten you, "John The pasta and Italian Guru" about a new Italian dish. I would not have known about this dish at all if it was not for me delightful fellow blogger Letizia from DutchgoesItalian. (Big thanks to Letizia)
This pasta is so much easier from a technical standpoint compared to egg pasta that needs to be rolled and cut. The taste and texture is something very unique and my family just can't seem to get enough of it.
Hands down, Cinque Terre area, Tuscany region, and Bologna are 3 places that are a must visit while in Italy.
Take Care, BAM
Nami | Just One Cookbook says
This is my second time seeing this pasta made from scratch and I'm convinced that I can manage to make it on my own! I love pesto and this is simple and delicious meal! Thanks Bam for introducing a new wonderful blogger to us!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Nami-san, this is the perfect pasta to make from scratch if it is your very first time. It is very simple to make and your kids would have a great time helping out in the kitchen. Have a super day. Take Care, BAM
Choc Chip Uru says
What lovely photos my friend, can't say I don't agree 🙂
Love the pasta, it has a delicious flavour!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thank you CCU. I really think it is the whole texture of the pasta and flavor combination that makes this one a true comfort dish. Do you eat cheese or are you a strict vegetarian? I have been experimenting with pestos without parmesan cheese and other alternatives. I will get back to you with my findings. Take Care, BAM
cravesadventure says
Okay you are making me want to try pesto again. Beautiful Photos and yummy eats! Have a Happy Halloween:)
Healthy World Cuisine says
Happy Halloween to you too! Pesto is very versatile and there are so many delicious things that you can make with this sauce, that mind races with ideas. However, I must admit that this Trofie al Pesto comfort dish will make your day. I think it even tastes better the next day. Take Care, BAM
Sibella at bakingwithsibella.com says
I want this for lunch today! I love pesto!!! 🙂 The shape of this pasta reminds me of potato pasta that's made in my homeland (not gnocchi) and it is actually served sweet with butter, sugar, bread crumbs or ground poppy seeds ( I know it may sound weird, but it's delicious)
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hello Sibella, do you know the name of the sweet dessert pasta that you make in your homeland? It sounds very interesting. Have a great Day. BAM