Recipe
Trofie al pesto with green beans and potatoes
There is a specific corner of Italy where they got the memo about carbs before anyone else, and that corner is Liguria. The Ligurian ancestors, faced with the question is this plate of pasta carby enough, looked at each other and said well, what if we also put potatoes in it, and a fistful of green beans for good measure. And so was born pasta al pesto alla genovese con fagiolini e patate, the original carb-loaded packed lunch, available in every Ligurian household and, crucially, every Ligurian focacceria since sometime in the nineteenth century.
Our first encounter with this dish was on a family holiday in Camogli, when we were maybe eleven years old and approaching a beach shack with what we assumed would be a simple lunch. The signora behind the counter slid us a paper-lined box full of trofie glossy with green pesto, warm potato chunks that had absorbed all the oil they could possibly hold, and short pieces of green bean that had somehow stayed bright. We ate it on a stone wall looking at the sea and didn't speak for ten minutes. When we finished, our dad looked at the empty box and said ecco, questo sì che è cibo, that's what food is. We have been trying to recreate that moment for the last fifteen years, with varying success.
A few honest notes. Pesto in a jar is fine; pesto in the fridge aisle in a little plastic pot with a layer of oil on top is better; pesto made from scratch is obviously best but nobody has time to pound a mortar on a Tuesday. You cook the green beans and potatoes in the same water as the pasta, because there are some battles nobody needs to fight, and you serve it warm, or room temperature, or cold from a Tupperware the next day. It is possibly the most forgiving pasta dish in existence, and possibly the most Ligurian.
- Prep 10 min
- Cook 15 min
- Serves 2
- Cost €
Method
- 1
Bring a big pot of well-salted water to the boil. Use plenty of water because you'll cook three things in it.
5 min
- 2
Drop in the potato cubes and cook for 3 minutes.
3 min
- 3
Add the green beans and cook for another 2 minutes.
2 min
- 4
Add the pasta and cook until the pasta is al dente, following the pack time. The potatoes and beans will be tender by then.
10 min
- 5
Spoon the pesto into a wide warm bowl. Loosen it with 2 to 3 tablespoons of the pasta cooking water until it turns into a silky sauce.
1 min
- 6
Before draining, reserve another cup of cooking water in case you need it later.
1 min
- 7
Drain the pasta, potatoes, and beans together. Tip into the pesto bowl and toss to coat. Add more cooking water if the sauce is too thick.
1 min
- 8
Finish with a shower of parmigiano, toasted pine nuts if using, and a crack of black pepper. No extra oil needed, the pesto carries it.
1 min
Variations
If you can find fresh trofie (hand-rolled pasta twists) in the chilled pasta aisle, use them; they're the canonical shape. Fusilli is the best dry substitute. For a richer version, swap half the pesto for ricotta stirred in at the end. The same method works with broccoli instead of green beans. Packs beautifully for lunch the next day; add a splash of olive oil and eat cold from the box.