Classic Basil Pesto Pasta with Potatoes and Green Beans Recipe

This classic basil pesto pasta with potatoes and green beans recipe will make you the traditional potato, green bean and basil pesto pasta from Liguria in Northern Italy, which we first tried in Genoa 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 sauce coats the spirals but use trofie if you prefer.

Prep Time15

Cook Time15

Total Time30

Course: Starter or Main

Cuisine: Italian

Servings:

Calories: 819kcal

Author: Lara Dunston

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

Metric - US Customary

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

To finish: more grated cheese, fresh basil leaves, toasted pine nuts

Nutrition