MARIO BATALI: Corzetti with Pesto, a Ligurian specialty

Mario Batali

9:30 PM EDT, April 17, 2013


On April 22, 1970, the U.S. Senate challenged Americans to confront our most urgent environmental issues and rally around a single message: that the success of future generations depends on how we act now and how we educate our young people. Earth Day is celebrated annually to call attention to environmental changes and the issues they pose to future generations.


Genovese basil is the preferred variety when making pesto, especially in the northwesterly region of Liguria. Ligurians make a religion of their devotion to the herb. In a nod to the seafaring region, Chef Frank Langello is preparing Corzetti with Pesto Genovese at my restaurant Babbo this Earth Day.

What we commonly think of as "pesto" is only one variety of the sauce. Pesto genovese is the basil pesto native to the Ligurian coast. The beauty of pesto genovese is that it's a no-cook pasta sauce. Combine the basil, garlic and pine nuts in a food processor or with a mortar and pestle. Add Pargmigiano-Reggiano and olive oil, and mix to your desired consistency. A lot of people misconstrue pesto as a wet sauce. In my house (and at Babbo) it's fairly dry. Thin it using the pasta cooking liquid to achieve your desired consistency.



A specialty pasta from the Liguria region of Italy, Corzetti (little crosses, also sometimes corxetti), are flat disks stamped with a design that often evokes a food theme, such as shafts of wheat. The stamps for making the shape are hand-carved from wood. Beautiful objects in themselves, the stamps are in two pieces. One side is used to cut disks from thin sheets of fresh pasta. Then the pasta disk is sandwiched between the stamp pieces to press in the design. The stamps are difficult to find. I bought these in a small household goods store in Santa Margherita, a coastal town in Liguria. These Italian cooking supply sites carry them: artisanalpastatools.com, fantes.com and cortibros.biz. Packaged dried versions of the shape are available in some specialty grocery stores.

— Joe Gray, Tribune Newspapers

Corzetti with Pesto

Courtesy of Mario Batali


3 tablespoons pine nuts

2 cups Genovese basil (may sub regular basil)

1 garlic clove

Pinch of sea salt


3 tablespoons grated Pecorino cheese

1 1/4 cups extra virgin olive oil


3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

4 extra-large eggs

1/2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

Semolina flour

2 tablespoons salt






