Trofie al Pesto Genovese
Preparazione 30 min · Cottura 15 min · Porzioni 4 · Difficoltà Media
Procedimento
Wash the basil gently and dry it completely on a cloth; water is pesto’s first enemy, heat the second.
8 min
Pound garlic with a few grains of coarse salt in the mortar to a cream. Add pine nuts; pound to a paste.
5 min
Add the basil in handfuls with a pinch of salt, crushing against the walls with a rotating wrist rather than smashing, until the leaves release a bright green liquor.
8 min
Work in both cheeses, then the oil in a thin stream, stirring with the pestle until you have a dense, fragrant cream. (Food processor truce: pulse briefly with chilled blade and bowl.)
5 min
Boil the potatoes in well-salted water for 5 minutes; add the trofie and green beans together and cook until the pasta is al dente.
12 min
Reserve a cup of cooking water, drain, and return everything to the warm (not hot) pot off the heat.
1 min
Fold in the pesto, loosening with splashes of the starchy water until every twist is coated in pale green cream. Serve immediately.
2 min
I consigli della nonna
Consigli in cucina
Never let pesto meet the flame. Heat blackens basil and turns the perfume metallic. The pasta’s own warmth is all the cooking pesto will ever need.
The germ comes out. Halve the garlic clove and flick out the green germ; it carries the after-burn people wrongly blame on garlic itself.
No mortar? Chill everything, including the processor blade. Warm metal bruises basil in seconds and the pesto oxidizes to khaki.
