Corzetti

La Mia Liguria distinguishes these two local forms. In the stamped version, a wooden tool leaves a raised design on the pasta: decoration becomes part of the making process. Our suggestion: look at the uncooked shape before choosing a sauce. Comparing a disk with a small figure eight gives you a clear reason to ask which tradition the pasta maker is following.

La Mia Liguria’s recipe mixes flour, egg yolks and water, rolls a sheet and cuts small circles. Engraved wooden forms then impress the disks. The regional account also allows dough with or without eggs. Our suggestion: when trying the stamped version, follow a recipe written for your mold and dough rather than assuming that every corzetto is made the same way.

La Mia Liguria documents pesto and butter with pine nuts and marjoram among the accompaniments. Try the latter when you want to explore the shape beyond pesto.

Ask whether you are buying Val Polcevera-style figure eights or Levante-style stamped disks. La Mia Liguria documents both, as well as doughs with and without eggs. Our suggestion: read the actual ingredients and buy a portion whose decoration you can inspect. A local name alone does not tell you the dough in that particular packet.

Our suggestion: retain the producer’s instructions for the pasta you buy and ask whether it is sold fresh or dried. Keep those instructions with the remaining portion instead of using a storage rule based only on the shape’s name.