Trofie al Pesto Genovese (Italian Trofie with Genoese Pesto) Trofie al pesto is the plate by which Liguria is judged, and almost every fault in it comes from heat. The pesto is never cooked. It is pounded raw in a marble mortar, held at room temperature, and loosened at the last second with starchy water borrowed from the pot. Everything else in the recipe exists to protect that raw sauce from the pasta that is about to meet it. The full Genoese version is not pasta and sauce