This classic basil pesto pasta with potatoes and green beans recipe makes the traditional potato, green bean and basil pesto pasta from Liguria in Northern Italy, which we first tried in Genoa some years ago – except instead of trofie, the pasta traditionally served with pesto, I’ve used fusilli or corkscrew pasta. I love the way the pesto coats the spirals but use trofie if you prefer.
This basil pesto pasta with potatoes and green beans recipe makes one of my favourite Italian pasta dishes. I’ll never forget the first time I savoured a genuine Genovese pesto pasta in a modest little neighbourhood restaurant in the port city of Genoa, the capital of Liguria. It was on our first trip to Northern Italy many years ago and it was divine. No sooner had I finished the bowl I wanted another.
It was a revelation, even after years of making basil pesto at home in Sydney, and eating pesto pasta at Italian restaurants in Australia. What I learned from that meal, and from consuming countless more bowls of pesto pasta in Liguria over the years, was that it’s impossible to replicate that exact flavour outside Italy.
Because in Liguria, all the ingredients are locally grown, they’re so incredibly fresh, and in good restaurants, however humble those restaurants may be, the basil pesto is pounded to order in a mortar and pestle, and the pasta, which is typical trofie pasta, is also freshly made. You can’t beat that!
I haven’t used trofie, which is traditionally used with this pesto pasta with potatoes and green beans, as I can’t source dried trofie and I don’t have time to make it right now, but I will and I’ll share a trofie recipe with you. I’ve use fusilli, which many Italians would balk at, but I love the way the pesto clings to the coils.
This pesto pasta with green beans and potatoes recipe is next in our series of quick and easy pastas, that’s so far included recipes for creamy tomato pasta sauce with gnocchi, penne Bolognese for a ‘cheat’s Bol’, asparagus, mushrooms and bacon gnocchi, cherry tomato feta pasta recipe, spaghetti pangrattato, sardine pasta with caper gremolata and pangrattato, tuna pasta with scallions, capers and fresh herbs, a speedy bacon and mushroom pasta, this aromatic lemon pasta recipe for pasta al limone, and fusilli with creamy pumpkin pasta sauce.
Pesto Pasta with Potatoes and Green Beans Recipe
This classic basil pesto pasta with potatoes and green beans recipe makes this delicious Ligurian pasta dish using the traditional method from the region, which calls for the dried pasta, potatoes and green beans to be cooked in the same pot of boiling water.
As long as you get the timing right, this method is quicker and easier than cooking the components separately in a few pots, it reduces the number of pots to wash, and it will give you super-starchy cooking water to spoon into your pan to create a creamier pesto sauce.
While I’ve included cooking times in the recipe below, based on the dried fusilli I use, which takes 12-14 minutes, only use these as a guide. To get your timing right, you’ll need to check the cooking time on the packet instructions and work backwards. More on that in my tips to making this pesto pasta recipe below.
Tips to Making this Basil Pesto Pasta with Potatoes and Green Beans Recipe
Just a few tips to making this pesto pasta with potatoes and green beans, as it’s super easy, comes together quickly, and turns out perfectly, as long as you get the timing right.
You could make the basil pesto ahead of time if you’re making this for the first time and you’re concerned about the timing. Otherwise, put a big pot of salted water on the stove over high heat to boil – Italians say it should be so salty it tastes of the sea! – then make the pesto.
Just as Italians traditionally do, I make my basil pesto using a mortar and pestle, as we regularly use a mortar and pestle at home in Cambodia, and I actually find it faster, somewhat therapeutic, it gives the arms a good workout, and the pesto tastes better.
At home in Cambodia I use our big granite mortar and pestle, which we use to make herb and spice pastes, but here at mum’s in Australia, I’ve been using her Italian marble mortar and pestle that’s traditionally used to make pestle. I find it a bit small to be honest, as it only makes enough pesto for one meal, but it does the job.
To make the basil pesto, first add the garlic cloves and salt to the mortar, use the pestle to pound them into a pulp; add the pine nuts to the mix and continue to pound to create a coarse paste; then gradually add the basil, crushing the leaves in a circular motion to incorporate it into the paste.
Lastly, add the grated cheeses, using the pestle to pound it all together to create a paste, then slowly pour in the olive oil, stirring it in with the pestle until you have a creamy gorgeous vibrant green paste.
Now turn your attention to that pot of salted water. When the water is on a rolling boil, set a timer to the duration of time that’s recommended for cooking the past in the packet instructions, which, if you’re using a dried fusilli as I have, is probably around 12 minutes or so.
You want the fusilli or whatever dried pasta you’re using to be just under al dente, as it will continue to cook a little when you transfer it to the pan, so set the timer for a minute less than the recommended cooking time. Then work backwards, and set other timers as chefs do, or jot down the times.
Pour the pasta into a big soup/stock pot, give it a stir to separate the pieces, then slide the potato pieces into the pot, stir again, and put the lid on.
Note: if you’ve sliced your potatoes to the 2.5cm width I suggest in the recipe, the potato pieces should take the same time to cook as the pasta. If they’re larger, they’ll take a little longer so add them before the pasta; if they’re smaller they’ll take less time to cook, so add the potato pieces after the pasta.
Two minutes before the pasta and potatoes are ready, add the chopped green beans to the pot, and give it all a stir. Two minutes results in crispy bright green beans. If you prefer your beans a bit more cooked add them a minute earlier.
While the pasta, potatoes and beans are finishing, to a large deep pan or skillet over low-medium heat, add two tablespoons of the boiling pasta water to the pan, along with four tablespoons of the pesto you made (feel free to add more if you like) and stir to create a sauce.
When your timer goes off, use a slotted spoon to scoop out the pasta, potatoes and green beans and transfer them to the pan, stirring so that everything is coated in the pesto sauce.
Another important note: using cream in a basil pesto sauce is not traditional and I don’t usually add cream at home, but my mother absolutely adores it. If you’re going to add the optional cream, now is the time to do it. Pour the cream in, turn the heat to high to quickly reduce the sauce (a no-no for Italians!), and stir to combine everything well.
For an ultra creamy sauce: add a tad more pasta water, along with a little more grated cheese, and stir so the fusilli is well coated in the creamy pesto sauce.
Distribute the pesto pasta between plates, drizzle on a little more extra virgin olive oil if needed, garnish with fresh basil leaves, and if you like, more toasted pine nuts, cracked black pepper, and flaky sea salt, and serve immediately.
Pesto lover? Try our recipes for pesto gnocchi with homemade pesto alla Genovese, my pesto spaghetti and meatballs with peas and broccoli, a pesto potato salad, this pan-fried asparagus with pesto hummus, our pesto scrambled eggs, my cherry tomato burrata salad with asparagus, basil pesto and dukkah, this broccoli pasta with a creamy broccoli pesto sauce, and my Southeast Asian pesto.
Pesto Pasta with Potatoes and Green Beans Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic - peeled
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 30 g pine nuts
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil - preferably Italian
- 80 g fresh Italian basil leaves - washed and dried
- 60 g Parmigiano Reggiano cheese - grated
- 40 g Pecorino cheese - grated
- 2 large floury potatoes - peeled and diced into roughly 2.5cm-wide pieces
- 250 g dried fusilli - or another spiral or corkscrew pasta, or trofie if you prefer
- 24 green beans - or French beans, trimmed and chopped into thirds
- 100 ml thickened cooking cream - optional, or to taste
Instructions
- Put a large pot of salted water on the stove over high heat to boil.
- Make the basil pesto: using a mortar and pestle, add the garlic cloves and salt to the mortar, use the pestle to pound it into a pulp; add the pine nuts and pound to create a coarse paste; gradually add basil, crushing the leaves in a circular motion to incorporate; add the cheeses, using the pestle to create a paste; slowly pour in the olive oil, stirring until you have a creamy vibrant green paste.
- When the water is on a rolling boil, set a timer to the duration of time recommended on the pasta packet instructions, probably around 12 minutes or so for a quality dried fusilli. Pour the pasta into the pot, give it a stir to separate, then slide the potato pieces into the pot, stir again, and put the lid on.
- Two minutes before the pasta and potatoes are ready, add the chopped green beans to the big pot, and give it all a stir.
- While the pasta, potatoes and green beans are finishing, to a large deep pan over low heat, add two tablespoons of the cooking water to the pan, along with four tablespoons of the pesto you made (you can add more later to suit your taste if you like) and stir to create a sauce.
- When your timer goes off, use a slotted spoon to scoop out the pasta, potatoes and green beans and transfer them to the pan, stirring so that everything is coated in the pesto sauce.
- If you’re going to add the optional cream, now is the time to do it: pour the cream in, turn the heat to high to quickly reduce the sauce, stir to combine everything well. If you like: add a tad more pasta water, along with a little more grated cheese, and stir so the fusilli is well coated in the creamy pesto sauce.
- Distribute the pesto pasta between plates, drizzle on a little more extra virgin olive oil if needed, garnish with fresh basil leaves, and if you like, more toasted pine nuts, cracked black pepper, and flaky sea salt, and serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Please do let us know if you make this recipe for basil pesto pasta with green beans and potatoes as we’d love to know how it turns out for you.
