Trofie al Pesto

1. Combine flour, 1/4 cup water, eggs, olive oil, and salt for pasta in the bowl of a food processor; pulse a few times until just combined. Pinch dough to see if it sticks together and forms a small clump. If it's dry or crumbly, add more water, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time, just until the dough forms a ball.

2. Dump dough onto a floured surface. Knead until dough is smooth and bounces back when you poke it. Wrap in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

3. Remove dough from the refrigerator and pull off a small chunk, about 1/2 teaspoon or smaller. Place dough at the bottom of a wooden cutting board and starting with the tips or your fingers, firmly roll up the board, like you are rolling the dough into a tube. Once the dough is at the base of your palm, keep pressure on it and pull it back and down the board, diagonally at a 45-degree angle to create a spiral shape. Repeat until all dough has been shaped.

4. Combine garlic and pine nuts in the bowl of a food processor; process until sandy in texture. Add basil and oil and process until smooth. Stir in grated Parmesan cheese until combined. Taste and add salt if needed.

5. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add trofie and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, about 12 minutes. Drain.

6. Toss cooked trofie with pesto and serve immediately.

Cook's Notes:

One major recommendation here: You're going to want to form your trofie on a wooden surface. I used a cutting board. You don't want to use a super smooth surface or else the dough will just slide all over the place and won't form the little spiral shape. And, the wood also gives the surface of the pasta a nice texture to grab onto the pesto.

It'll take a few times to get used to making the trofie, at least it did for me, but once you get going, it's a bit meditative. Just be patient and enjoy the process until you've used up all your dough. Also, these don't need to be perfectly uniform. Just try and keep them smaller, they taste better that way, and try to keep them roughly the same size so they cook at the same rate. And, if this is not at all remotely appealing to you, you can just boil some store-bought pasta. It's not a big deal.

You can make the pesto in a blender, food processor, pestle and mortar, or by using an immersion blender. Totally up to you. Salt the pesto as needed, usually the cheese is salty enough.