Homemade trofie with vegan basil pesto

trofie pasta on a plate with basil pesto

5 from 11 votes

Homemade trofie with vegan basil pesto

Homemade trofie with vegan basil pesto is our take on a traditional Italian dish made for centuries on the Ligurian riviera in Genova. We show you how to make trofie at home like in Italy with just two ingredients. Then we make a delicious, creamy basil pesto sauce that is 100% plant-based.

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time5 mins

Total Time35 mins

Course: First Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Plant-Based, Vegan

Servings: people

Calories: 428kcal

Author: Nico

Equipment

Blender

Ingredients

For the trofie

500 g semolina flour
250 to 300 g hot water The amount of water varies based on temperature, altitude, humidity and type of flour.

For the basil pesto

70 g cold water
70 g basil
30 g pine nuts
30 g almonds
30 g nutritional yeast
30 g olive oil extra virgin
⅓ clove garlic
salt to taste

USA - Metric

Instructions

Make the trofie

In a bowl, add the semolina flour and ¾ of the water. Mix with a fork till the flour absorb all the water.
Transfer the dough onto a worktop and start kneading with your hands. If the dough is too dry, then add more water, a little at a ime.
Knead vigorously for about 10 minutes. By the end you should get a smooth, compact dough.
Start shaping the dough like shown in the youtube video below.
You can now cook the trofie in salted boiling water for about 3 minutes.
You can also store the trofie. First, let them dry on our worktop for half a day. Sprinkle them with some semolina flour so they don't stick together. When they are hard and dry, you can store them in an airtight container for weeks.

Make the pesto

Blend almonds, pine nuts, garlic, salt and nutritional yeast until you get to an almond flour consistency.
Add the basil leaves, oil and cold water and start pulsing with the blender until everything turns into a creamy pesto. You might have to stop to scrape down the sides once. Taste and adjust for salt.

Serve the pasta

In a bowl, add the pesto sauce, then when the pasta is cooked take it out of the boiling water and add it to the bowl with the pesto. Add a few tablespoons of pasta water get everything creamy.
Stir with a spoon, plate, and drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil.
NB: do not warm up the pesto on a pan. It will loose its flavour.

Video

Notes

MEASUREMENTS

We recommend using the metric system for this recipe.

Nutrition