From Luca · 2021 · Reconstructed
Trenette al Pesto
Serve when
Serve it in a giant shared bowl and eat with your hands if you must — the way the sea-monster kids do the first time anyone trusts them at a table.
In the movie
Theatrical
- 00:38:43 The sea-monster boys are welcomed to a table and served a huge bowl of trenette al pesto, which they devour with their hands while the hosts look on in delight. It's the film's warmest image of belonging — food as acceptance, Ligurian-style.
Director Enrico Casarosa grew up on the Ligurian coast eating exactly this — pesto, potatoes, green beans, and pasta all in one summery bowl. In the film it's the meal that says you're one of us, the moment the sea monsters are simply boys at a table. It's the whole movie in a plate: warmth, summer, and the pleasure of being fed.
Ingredients
- For the pesto:
Method
- Make the pesto: blitz (or pound) the basil, pine nuts, garlic, and a little salt, then work in the cheeses and stream in the oil to a loose green sauce. Keep it raw — never cook pesto.
- Boil the pasta in well-salted water until just al dente, adding the diced potato and green beans to the same pot — the Ligurian way — so everything finishes together.
- Save a mugful of pasta water, then drain.
- Toss the pasta, potato, and beans with the pesto off the heat, loosening with a splash of pasta water until glossy and coating every strand.
- Serve immediately, hands optional.