Pansotti
pan-SOH-tee
Also known as pansoti, pansôti, pansòti.
Measured to scale. The illustrated portrait is in production.
Specifications
triangular parcel of thin egg dough folded over a greens-and-cheese filling, sealed into a rounded, pot-bellied form
What it is
Pansotti are a triangular stuffed pasta from eastern Liguria, classically filled with preboggion, a foraged mix of Ligurian wild greens, bound with the soft local cheese prescinseua or ricotta. The shape belongs to the Genoa hinterland and appears in early twentieth century gastronomic guides under Rapallo. The defining plate is pansotti with walnut sauce, salsa di noci, a milk-loosened paste of walnuts, garlic, and bread that predates pesto in the region. Cooks fold thin egg dough over the greens, then seal each piece into its rounded, belly-like form.
From the Ligurian and Genoese pansa, belly, a regional form of the Italian pancia. The name reads as pot bellied and points at the parcel's swollen, panciuto look once the filling is folded in.
What sauce it wants, and why
The filling is delicate, wild greens and a soft fresh cheese, so it asks for a sauce that adds richness without burying it. Salsa di noci, the Ligurian walnut sauce, does exactly that, a creamy nut paste loosened with milk that coats the parcels and echoes their earthiness. A heavy long-cooked meat ragu would flatten the greens and the prescinseua, which is why the regional table keeps pansotti with the nut sauce.
Walnut sauce
Classic plates: pansoti con salsa di noci.
No pansotti? Use these
Closest swaps by sauce behavior, not by looks. The ones most easily confused with pansotti, and how they read.
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