Pansoti with walnut sauce: Ligurian recipe

Pansoti are fresh filled pasta from Liguria: plump little parcels of thin pasta stuffed with a mix of wild greens (preboggion) and prescinseua, and dressed with salsa di noci, a raw sauce of walnuts, soaked bread and garlic. The dish belongs to eastern Liguria and Genoa, and it is meat-free. You will also see the spelling «pansotti»: it is the same dish.

Below are the two recipes that make it up, the pasta with its filling and the walnut sauce, with quantities for 4 people, common mistakes, variations and the history that can actually be documented.

• Origin: eastern Liguria and Genoa; first printed mention in 1931, in Rapallo
• Total time: about 1 hour 30, including resting the dough
• Servings: 4 people
• Difficulty: medium (shaping takes a little practice)
• Key ingredients: wild greens or chard and borage, prescinseua or ricotta, walnuts, bread crumb
• When it is eaten: all year; in many families it is a Christmas Eve dish

Ingredients

Quantities for 4 people. Sources disagree a lot (flour ranges from 300 to 500 g, prescinseua from 150 to 250 g): this is a balanced version to adapt.

Pasta

• 400 g plain flour (type 00)
• 2 eggs
• 1 small glass (about 100 ml) of dry white wine or water
• 1 pinch of salt

Filling

• 500 g preboggion, or chard, leafy greens and borage
• 250 g prescinseua or ricotta
• 50 g grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• 1 egg
• 1 pinch of marjoram
• 1 pinch of nutmeg
• salt

Preboggion is a mix of wild greens that changes from valley to valley and with the season; the name comes from the Ligurian verb «preboggî», to blanch. Sources list borage, nettle, dandelion, wild chicory, grattalingua, silene, salad burnet and rampion, picked young. If you cannot find it, mix chard or leafy greens (sweet) with borage, chicory or escarole (bitter). Prescinseua is a fresh Ligurian curd, halfway between yogurt and ricotta, slightly sour: as a substitute use ricotta with a little yogurt.

Walnut sauce

• 200 g shelled walnuts
• 1 small clove of garlic
• the crumb of 1 small bread roll, soaked in milk and squeezed
• whole milk for soaking
• 2–3 tablespoons grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• 30 g pine nuts (optional)
• 1 pinch of marjoram
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• coarse salt

How to make it

Pasta and filling

1. Knead flour, eggs, wine and salt into a smooth, elastic dough. Wrap it in cling film and rest it for at least 30 minutes.
2. Wash the greens, boil them in salted water and cool them straight away in cold water to keep the colour. Squeeze them very well and chop finely.
3. Mix the greens with prescinseua, Parmigiano, egg, marjoram, nutmeg and salt. The filling should be firm, not wet.

Shaping

1. Roll the dough out very thin and cut squares of 6–8 cm per side.
2. Put a walnut-sized spoonful of filling in the centre of each square, wet the edges and fold into a triangle, pressing out the air. Seal well.
3. Bring the two side corners of the triangle together, crossing them.

Walnut sauce

1. Soak the bread crumb in the milk, then squeeze it. Keep the milk.
2. In a mortar, pound the garlic with coarse salt and the pine nuts, if you use them. Add the walnuts and pound until smooth.
3. Work in the bread, Parmigiano and marjoram. Add the oil in a thin stream, with a little of the reserved milk, until you have a soft but not runny cream.

Cooking and serving

1. Cook the pansoti in plenty of boiling salted water for a few minutes, until they float.
2. Drain them, keeping a ladle of cooking water. Loosen the sauce with a little of that water and toss. The sauce is never cooked or heated on the stove.

Tips and common mistakes

• Greens not squeezed enough: the filling turns wet and the pansoti open while cooking.
• Thick pasta: where the dough overlaps, on the corners, it stays hard.
• Bitter walnuts: the skin gives a slightly bitter aftertaste that some people consider part of the tradition. For a milder sauce, blanch the walnuts briefly and remove the skin.
• Mortar or blender: the sauce was born in the mortar; a blender works in short pulses, so it does not heat up.
• Sauce too thick: loosen it with cooking water.
• Allergens: the dish contains gluten, eggs, milk, tree nuts and pine nuts.

Variations

• Filling: greens only, or with more cheese. In Rapallo the De.Co. specification asks for at least four kinds of greens, with borage not below 50% and chard not above 20%, and prescinseua up to 30% of the cheeses.
• Shape: a triangle with crossed corners, a half moon or a large tortello.
• Dressing: butter, sage and Parmigiano instead of walnut sauce. The sauce also suits other Ligurian shapes, such as corzetti.
• Sauce: some recipes add butter, others bind it only with bread and milk; quantities change from family to family.

For another Ligurian filling with greens and prescinseua see the torta pasqualina; for the region’s other signature sauce, the Genoese basil sauce (pesto).

History and origin

The name comes from the Ligurian pansa, «belly». The legend of a French general «Pansoit» who supposedly invented them to feed his troops has no evidence. The most reliable document is the Touring Club’s 1931 Guida Gastronomica d’Italia, which lists «pansoti cu a salsa de nuge» under Rapallo. An 18th-century Genoese poem mentions «pansarotti» among carnival foods, but calls them ravioli; they do not appear in historic Genoese cookbooks.

The walnut sauce is older than the dish: it descends from medieval garlic sauces and, according to several sources, from Genoese merchants’ trade with the East, though that is a hypothesis. Several towns in eastern Liguria, including Bogliasco, claim to be the birthplace of pansoti, with no written proof. Today pansoti are a Traditional Agri-food Product (PAT) of Liguria, and Rapallo gave its De.Co. (municipal denomination) to «pansotti con salsa di noci» with a council decision in 2013.

Where to try it in Liguria

• Rapallo: the town named in 1931, with the dish’s De.Co.
• Genoa: pansoti are among the classics, see what to eat in Genoa.
• Camogli, Santa Margherita Ligure, Chiavari and Moneglia: you find them in eastern Ligurian kitchens next to trofie with pesto and anchovies.
• Bogliasco: it holds a pansoti festival, in late July in 2026; check the dates for the year.

For the wider picture of Ligurian dishes, from Recco focaccia to pesto, see Ligurian cuisine.

What to drink

A delicate, slightly rich dish like this calls for a dry, light white: Pigato is among the pairings mentioned. You will find other Ligurian whites among the Ligurian wines.

Frequently asked questions

Is it pansoti or pansotti?

Both are used: the Ligurian name is «pansoti», and in some areas it is written «pansotti». It is the same dish.

What is preboggion?

A mix of blanched wild greens typical of Ligurian cooking, different from area to area. It fills pansoti but also goes into minestrone and omelettes. If you cannot find it, use chard or leafy greens with borage and chicory.

Can I use ricotta instead of prescinseua?

Yes. Prescinseua is hard to find outside Liguria: ricotta, better with a little yogurt mixed in, gives a similar filling.

Should the walnut sauce be heated?

No. It is a raw sauce: you loosen it with a little cooking water and pour it on the freshly drained pansoti.

Are pansoti vegetarian?

The filling contains no meat, so yes. They are not vegan: there are eggs, cheese and milk, and Parmigiano contains animal rennet.

When are pansoti eaten?

All year. In many Ligurian homes they are a Christmas Eve dish. The Italian Food Calendar marks 5 March as the national day of pansoti with walnut sauce.

Where do pansoti come from?

From eastern Liguria and Genoa. The first written mention is from 1931 in Rapallo; several towns claim the origin, without proof.