P
Italian · Liguria
Corzetti del Levante Ligure con Pesto di Noci
Coin-shaped pasta from the eastern Liguria Levante coast, embossed with a decorative pattern using a traditional carved wooden stamp. The corzetti are made from a semolina and white wine dough, pressed thin and stamped with two-sided carved wooden coins that imprint a flower or geometric pattern. Dressed with a raw walnut pesto (salsa di noci) — cream, garlic, marjoram, pine nuts and walnuts — that clings to the embossed surface.
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I
The Market List
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For the corzetti dough
300 g
fine semolina (semolino rimacinato)
Origin · ItalyBosa Foods · Vancouver →
100 ml
dry white wine
replacing some water in the dough
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
30 ml
water
added sparingly — dough must remain stiff
Your own market
For the salsa di noci
150 g
30 g
pine nuts
toasted
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 clove
garlic
Your own market
1 tsp
fresh marjoram leaves
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
50 g
fresh white bread crumb
soaked in milk, squeezed
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
60 ml
whole milk
for soaking the bread
Your own market
80 ml
double cream
Your own market
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II
The Method
1
Combine the semolina, white wine and water. Work the mixture until a stiff, cohesive dough forms — it must resist the thumb and feel firmer than a standard pasta dough. Wrap and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. The dough is ready when it no longer springs back immediately on pressure.
2
Roll the dough to a uniform sheet of roughly 2–3 mm — thin enough to stamp cleanly, thick enough to hold definition. Using the corzetti stamp, press down with firm, even force across the full face of the die. Lift the stamp cleanly. This is where the dish lives or dies: uneven or insufficient pressure produces a partial imprint that will not survive boiling and will not hold the sauce in its grooves. Each coin should bear a complete, deep impression on both faces.
3
Transfer the stamped corzetti to a lightly floured surface. Allow to dry briefly so the surfaces are no longer tacky to the touch.
4
Blanch the walnuts in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain and peel away the papery skin while still warm. Soak the white bread crumb in milk until fully saturated, then squeeze dry. In a mortar, pound the garlic to a paste, add the walnuts and pine nuts, and work to a coarse, cohesive mass. Incorporate the squeezed bread crumb, marjoram and cream, continuing to pound until the sauce is thick and textured — not smooth. The sauce must retain visible grain; it is ready when it holds its shape on the pestle without running.
5
Cook the corzetti in well-salted boiling water. They are done when they rise to the surface and the embossed pattern remains clearly legible — typically 3–4 minutes. Drain and allow to cool until no longer steaming.
6
Dress the cooled pasta with the walnut sauce, turning gently so the sauce lodges in the embossed grooves. The sauce must meet pasta that is no longer hot — heat oxidises the walnut oil rapidly, turning the sauce bitter and grey. The finished dish should be creamy, pale and faintly fragrant with marjoram, with the coin patterns still visible through the sauce.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Corzetti stamped with a commission-carved Chiavari wooden die bearing a family or house device; walnuts from the Ligurian Apennine interior, freshly shelled; Prescinsôa curd replacing the milk-soaked bread in the salsa di noci.
02
Estate — A quality artisan corzetti stamp with a clean two-sided die; walnuts blanched and peeled to order; toasted pine nuts added to the mortar for textural contrast; fresh marjoram from the garden or market.
03
Market — A standard production corzetti stamp; good-quality shelled walnuts, blanched and peeled at home; dried marjoram used sparingly in place of fresh; double cream from a reliable dairy.
04
House — A round cutter substituted for the stamp — the surface character and sauce-holding property are lost, and the dish becomes a plain coin pasta with walnut cream rather than corzetti proper.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. The dough resists the thumb firmly and does not spring back at once — it is stiffer than standard pasta dough and holds a pressed impression without closing.
◇Sight. Each stamped coin bears a complete, deep impression on both faces with no blurred or missing sections.
◇Sight. Cooked corzetti rise to the surface and the embossed pattern remains clearly legible after boiling.
◇Sight. The salsa di noci holds its shape on the pestle and retains visible grain — it is pale, not grey, with no sign of oxidation.
◇Smell. The dressed pasta carries a clean, nutty fragrance with a bright herbal note from the marjoram and no bitterness — bitterness indicates the sauce has contacted heat.
◇Where it lives or dies. The stamp must be pressed with firm, even force across the full face of the die — a partial or shallow imprint will not survive boiling and the embossed grooves that hold the sauce will be lost entirely.
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VI
What to Pour
A lean, high-acid Ligurian white — Vermentino or Pigato from the Riviera di Levante — whose salinity and citrus cut the cream without competing with the walnut's faint bitterness.
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Sourced through Provenance