Best pesto pasta
- Published: 4 Jul 23
- Updated: 18 Mar 24
As far removed from any jarred pesto as you can get, this is the pesto pasta you wish you had growing up. True to the Ligurian classic, it’s served tossed with trofie pasta, green beans and potatoes for a dish that’ll transport you to the pastel-coloured Portofino coast before you can say delizioso!
Check out all our homemade pesto recipes.
- Serves 2
- Hands-on time 25 min
Ingredients
- 15g pine nuts
- 50g fine green beans
- 50g potatoes
- 1 small garlic clove
- 50g basil leaves
- 120ml extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
- 10g parmigiano reggiano, finely grated, plus extra to serve
- 5g pecorino romano (or more parmesan), finely grated, plus extra to serve
- 150g dried trofie or tagliatelle
Method
- Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat or in a 170°C fan/gas 5 oven for 5-8 minutes, shuffling them halfway through, until lightly golden and fragrant. Leave to cool.
- Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Trim and halve the green beans, peel the potatoes and cut them into small bite-size chunks, roughly 2cm wide.
- Use a pestle and mortar to crush the garlic with a pinch of coarse salt – this will help it break down. Add the pine nuts and a handful basil and continue to crush, grinding them with the pestle, adding more basil as the previous batch breaks down until it’s all incorporated apart from a few leaves to garnish. Pour in the oil a little at a time and continue to crush – everything will start to get creamy. Finally, add the cheeses and give it a final mix and crush.>
- Add the pasta and potatoes to the boiling water, cook for 6 minutes, then add the beans and cook everything for 2 more minutes. Save a mugful of the cooking water before draining. Return the drained pasta/veg to the pan and leave to stand for 1 minute before dressing with the pesto along with a glug of pasta water. Stir fairly vigorously to help the pasta water emulsify the sauce so it clings to the pasta. Serve with extra basil leaves, olive oil and cheese.
- Recipe from August 2023 Issue
Nutrition
- Calories
- 739kcals
- Fat
- 64g (9.9g saturated)
- Protein
- 9.7g
- Carbohydrates
- 30g (1.6g sugars)
- Fibre
- 3.1g
- Salt
- 0.2g
delicious. tips
Don’t waste it: Traditionally the stems of the basil aren’t used to make pesto, but they still hold plenty of flavour. Finely chop, then crush into the pesto mix or keep the stems to tie together and drop into cooked tomato sauces and the like to impart their beautiful flavour.
Make extra and keep for another dish in the fridge for 3 days (covered with oil) or in the freezer in an ice cube tray.
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