Trofie with Walnut Pesto from the Italian Riviera (Vegetarian)

This is a classic dish from Genova that is very rarely available in other parts of Italy, let alone outside of ‘lo stivale’ (meaning ‘the boot’, i.e. Italy). Some people from outside of “Zena” (Genova in the Genovese dialect) call this sauce pesto di noci, which, for a born and bred Genovese like our founder Alessandro, is wrong. It is, more properly, salsa di noci (or sarsa de noxi in local Genovese). Our salsa di noci is made with beautiful Sorrento walnuts sourced from Campania. It’s a simple but incredibly elegant sauce, highlighting the subtle flavour of the walnuts by quietly featuring fresh oregano, garlic and a drop of milk - which gives salsa di noci its remarkable velvety texture. Belin! (You may need to Google this - it’s another local Genovese term...)

We serve our salsa di noci with trofie, a pasta shape hailing from Golfo Paradiso (Gulf of Paradise) in the Liguria region, which is close to Genova on the Western coast of Italy. However, despite being so close in proximity, trofie were not commonly found in Genova until the mid-20th century. The word trofie comes from the Ligurian word ‘strufuggiâ’, meaning ‘to rub’, which is a reference to how the dough is prepared. Trofie get their unique twisted shape by rolling and rubbing on a wooden board.