Bavette

Bavette (bavettine in the thinner cut) are a long dry pasta with a flattened, slightly convex section, like spaghetti pressed flat. Barilla says they are traditionally cooked in Liguria, above all in Genoa, and serves them with pesto, vegetables or fish; most brands cook them in 5 to 10 minutes. ¹⁴³

The shape. Barilla describes bavette as flattened spaghetti whose slightly convex form carries the richness of the dressing. ¹ Agnesi stresses their flat surface, which it pairs with creamy, cheese-based sauces and pestos for a velvety feel. ² Pastificio Sorrentino gives the size of its bavette: 280 mm long, drawn through a 3 mm die. ³

A Genoese family. Barilla places the shape's home in Genoa. ¹ Agnesi calls its trenette, a close relative with a biconvex section, Genoese as well, and Ligurian tradition cooks them with diced potatoes and green beans before dressing them with fresh basil pesto. ¹¹ Italy's national list of traditional foods records «Pesto (alla genovese)» under Liguria. ⁷

What is in them. Italian law allows dry pasta sold as durum wheat semolina pasta to contain only semolina and water. ⁶ Agnesi's bavette n° 9 use wheat grown and milled in Italy, and Sorrentino's are part of a Pasta di Gragnano IGP range. ²³ The exception is egg bavettine: Rustichella d'Abruzzo's contain 31.7% egg. ⁵

Cooking times and nutrition. Barilla's bavette n° 13 and Sorrentino's cook in 10 minutes, while Divella's thinner bavettine n° 15 need only 5. ¹³⁴ Agnesi lists 359 kcal and 13 g of protein per 100 g, Divella 355 kcal and 13 g. ²⁴ Bavette contain wheat, a gluten allergen; Agnesi warns of traces of egg and soy, Divella of soy and mustard. ¹²²⁴

Sauces. Barilla says bavette are usually served with Genoese pesto or with vegetable and fish dressings, and advises against sauces that are too heavy, which would hide the delicate shape; light oil and fresh tomato work better. ¹ Rustichella pairs its egg bavettine with fish: white or red clam sauce, pescatora, or pesto with a drizzle of oil. ⁵

Pesto alla genovese. The Accademia Italiana della Cucina's recipe for 6 uses 2 garlic cloves, 6 bunches of basil, 80 g of pine nuts, 80 g each of aged Sardinian pecorino and parmigiano, a glass of extra virgin olive oil and coarse salt, pounded in a marble mortar with an olive-wood pestle. ⁸ Basilico Genovese, the basil of the area, has been a protected designation of origin in the EU since 2004. ⁹

Bavette, linguine and trenette. De Cecco calls linguine the Ligurian long pasta par excellence, a small narrow flat tagliatella born for pesto, cooked in 12 minutes. ¹⁰ Agnesi's trenette have a biconvex section and also come from Genoa. ¹¹ Bavette sit between them: flattened like linguine, described by Barilla as spaghetti pressed flat, ready in about 10 minutes. ¹³

Why it matters to you. Choose bavette for pesto, vegetables or fish, and keep the sauce light so the shape still shows. ¹ Cook by the pack: about 10 minutes for bavette, 5 for bavettine. ³⁴ Check the label for wheat and for egg, either as an ingredient in egg bavettine or as traces. ¹²⁵²