Ligurian trofie al pesto with potatoes and green beans
Trofie al pesto with potatoes and green beans, the traditional Ligurian recipe: fresh pasta and vegetables boiled together and dressed with Genoese pesto. A fragrant, genuine first course.
Are you looking for the quintessential Ligurian first course, the one that smells of basil and tells the story of a whole region?
Then trofie al pesto with potatoes and green beans is exactly what you need. I’ll show you how to make it the Genoese way, where the fresh pasta and the vegetables cook together in the same pot and are dressed raw with Genoese pesto. It is a simple but deeply flavorful dish, born from Ligurian home cooking.
The real strength lies in that shared cooking: the potatoes release starch and make the dressing creamier and more enveloping, while the green beans bring a fresh, green note that balances the richness of the pesto. No pans, no sauce to watch over.
Compared with other first courses, trofie al pesto has at least three advantages: it is cheap and made with just a few ingredients, everything cooks in a single pot, and you need only thirty minutes from start to table.
One trick that makes the difference: never heat the pesto over the flame. Stir it in raw, loosening it with a ladle of the reserved cooking water, so it keeps its bright green color and basil fragrance intact. And if you can, start from a good homemade Genoese pesto: it truly takes the dish to another level.
Serve the trofie right away, piping hot, while the pesto is still vivid. They are at their best the moment they are ready, because they lose their freshness the next day.
Ready? Let’s make trofie al pesto.
Base preparations used
Steps
- Trim the green beans and cut them into short pieces. Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the potatoes first. After about 5 minutes, add the green beans.
- After another 5-7 minutes, add the trofie to the same pot and cook them for the time indicated on the package.
- Drain everything together, setting aside a cup of the pasta cooking water.
- Dress with the pesto in a large bowl, mixing well. If needed, loosen with a little cooking water to bind everything. Serve immediately.
Helpful tips
Cook potatoes, green beans and trofie in the same water: it is the Ligurian tradition and gives more flavor.
Never heat the pesto over the flame: stir it in raw, with a little cooking water, so it keeps its fragrance and color.
With a good homemade Genoese pesto, the dish moves to another level.
The potatoes make the dish creamy and the green beans bring freshness: do not leave them out.
Average nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 520 kcal
- Carbohydrates
- 68.0 g
- Sugars
- 4.0 g
- Protein
- 14.0 g
- Fat
- 21.0 g
- Saturated fat
- 4.5 g
- Fiber
- 6.0 g
- Sodium
- 380 mg
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