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Trofie al pesto

Noodles with Basil Sauce

From	Difficulty	Serves	Time
Liguria			1^h30'

Ingredients

FOR THE DOUGH

Wheat flour: 350 g. (12.40 oz.)
Bran (or bread-crumbs): 50 g. (1.80 oz.)
Salt

FOR THE SAUCE

Very fresh basil leaves: 2 bunches
Grated sheep cheese (not very spicy): 1 table spoon
Grated Parmesan cheese: 1 table spoon
Garlic: 1 clove
Pine-seeds: 1 little handful
Extra-virgin olive oil: 1 glass
Salt

Preparation

First, make the tròfie(noodles).
Put the wheat flour, the bran and a pinch of salt on the rolling board and knead using as much water as necessary to obtain a quite consistent dough. If necessary, add a little more flour.
Well work into dought with your hands obtaining a sleek dough, flouring the board now and then.
Cut the dough in small pieces; roll each piece on the board, giving it a little stick shape; cut each stick in small pieces as big as a bean.
With your thumb, roll each piece on the board, having a little twisted dumpling about 3 cm. (1.20 inches) long (it'll vaguely remind a fusillo).
Leave them draining for a while on the board.
Now, make the pesto (sauce).
Wash the basil leaves, drip them and spread them on a towel for draining.
Then pound them in a mortar (according to the Ligurian tradition it shall be made with marble and the pestle with box-wood) with the garlic clove, the pine-seeds and a pich of sea-salt (to strengthen the green of the basil. Pound the leaves with the pestle against the mortar borders until all the ingredients will become a pulp; then slowly amalgamate the glass of olive oil and, at last, the two kinds of cheese together (you can change the amount of one or the other of the cheese, according to yuor taste).
Boil the trofie in abundant salt water, drain them when al dente and dress them with the pesto sauce, adding, if that is the case, one table spoon of the cooking water, which will help you to better embody the sauce to the pasta.

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