corzetti con pesto di maggiorana

Corzetti or Croxetti have been around since the middle ages and come from Liguria in north western Italy. Internet lore tells you that corzetti got their name from a 14th century coin from the maritime republic of Genoa, called the corzetto. However, there’s a theory floating around that traces the etimology of the word corzetto and links it to a ridiculously ancient indo-european word for ‘dip’ or ‘hollow’.

Interestingly enough, the first corzetti weren’t stamped, but made by hand and by dragging, exactly like ‘modern’ orecchiette are, to create a slightly concave disc/oval. Pasta with a ‘dip’ or a hollow’ in it! Put that together with the fact that there were strong trade and court links between the Genova and the Southern States of medieval Italy, the theory goes, and you have evidence that orecchiette are actually the descendants of corzetti!

Corzetti are difficult but not impossible to get hold of outside Italy - and of course you’ve always got the option of making them fresh and using either custom corzetti stamps or a biscuit cutter to make round discs of your own homemade pasta. You could even try cutting out shapes from store-bought fresh lasagne sheets.

My variation here uses thyme pesto instead of the traditional marjoram version, and that’s due to the availability of marjoram in January in London! Thyme is very similar to the original and a perfectly acceptable substitute if, like me, you can’t get hold of fresh marjoram.