Did you know that the word “trofie” in Genoese means “gnocchi“?

That’s right! The delicious pasta format made with flour and potatoes known all over the world is referred to in the Genoese dialect as “trofie.”

Instead, the elongated curl-shaped pasta that we are all familiar with and traditionally seasoned with Pesto is the “trofietta.”

Originating in the Riviera di Levante probably at the time of the Crusades, trofiette were the poor man’s version of gnocchi, made of only water and flour.

The shape is tapered and forms a curl. It seems that the name comes from the Ligurian word “strufuggià,” or rubbing, which is the manual movement that is done to give this shape. It is not so easy to “strufuggià” for the unskilled, but with practice it can be learned.

There are three different types of trofiette: classic, “advantaged,” or “bastard,” and they differ in dough. The classic ones from Recco are made with durum wheat flour ground with semolina, while the “advantaged” version is made with white flour cut with whole wheat flour. Finally, there is the “bastard” variant, which originated in wartime, when our peasants dried chestnuts to obtain flour, which they used instead of wheat flour.

Trofiette, until the middle of the last century were little known. They were typical of the Paradise Gulf and were produced and consumed only in the seaside villages of Recco, Sori and Camogli. It was in the 1960s that they left the confines of the Paradise Gulf and arrived in Genoa, where precisely the term “trofie” or “troffie” was already widely known, indicating, however, the pasta format born from the processing of flour and potatoes.

Would you like to try making “classic trofiette di Recco”?

Here is a recipe from an old book printed in 1975 – “The True Cuisine of Genoa and Liguria” published by Guido Mondani Ediotre

Prepare the dough with ½ kilogram of wheat flour or 3 1/2 ounces of regular flour with 2 ounces of fine semolina with boiling water, which should be poured into the center of the mound of flour (stir with a spoon to avoid burning). When the dough does not burn, you can knead it well. Then take a small amount of dough like a chickpea and roll it out with the palm of your hand to stretch it and then curl the dough, rolling it on the surface at an angle. You should make small curls 3-4 centimeters long, with edges that are thinner than the center part.

Drop the pasta into plenty of properly salted boiling water, adding two tablespoons of oil to prevent the trofiette from sticking together.

After a boil or two, drain and season with our Pesto Fresco alla Genovese, also available for purchase on our ecommerce.

Enjoy your meal!