Water, wheat flour, eggs and salt are the ingredients of the corzetti (a name deriving from “crocetta”, little cross), the typical Genoese pasta that may be served with pesto, ragu, or mushrooms. For the dish to be perfect, the essential element must not be forgotten: wood. Of course, wood isn’t used for the dough, but to cut and decorate the little pasta discs. Each corzetto – the name of the wooden stamp used to produce the pasta, which it is named after – was traditionally embossed with a family crest (said to be the reason for the pasta’s shape and why it was born) or, indeed, a cross.
You may find the corzetti in restaurants and delicatessens as well certain household stores such as the Butteghetta Magica (the “little magic store”), a historic shop existing even before the Italian Unification.
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