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Trenette pasta with pesto, potato and green beans
In our part of Liguria of Levante, we make the pesto with little garlic, and either mild pecorino, or no pecorino at all but only parmesan. Another characteristic of the pesto of Levante is that it is often eaten with trenette, green beans and potatoes. So here is how to make a good pesto of “Levante”
Ingredients
3 litres water
1 large waxy potato, peeled & diced
300g green beans, sliced
400g trenette pasta (or linguine)
Pesto sauce – see below
1 knob butter
Freshly grated parmesan cheese to serve
For the pesto
1 clove garlic, peeled
Pinch sea salt
40 small to medium basil leaves, carefully washed and patted dry
1 tbsp pine nuts
2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan
1 tbsp freshly grated mild pecorino
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or as much as the pesto will absorb
Preparation
To make the pesto in a mortar and pestle:
Place the garlic, salt (which helps to keep the basil green) and basil leaves in the mortar and start crushing with the pestle. You should not pound the basil, but rather press the pestle around the sides in a rotary motion so that the ingredients melt smoothly together. Add the pine nuts (raw, not toasted) and the two cheeses and keep pressing until everything is blended to a paste. Transfer to a larger bowl and add the oil, mixing with a wooden spoon.
To make the pesto in a blender:
Place all of the ingredients in a blender, and process on the lowest speed, with intermittent pulsing until the sauce is creamy, and transfer to a bowl.
If you are not using the pesto immediately, pour a layer of olive oil over the sauce to prevent discolouration.
Bring the water to the boil in a large saucepan. Throw in the potato and cook for 5 minutes. Add the beans and pasta and cook for 7 minutes or until the pasta is al dente. Strain the pasta, beans and potatoes, and reserve 2 tablespoons of the cooking water.
Put half of the pesto in a large bowl. Add the reserved water, the pasta, beans, potatoes and butter, and toss well to coat. Spoon the rest of the pesto on top, sprinkle on some parmesan and serve immediately.
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