Pesto Pasta Recipe

Servings: 4

Trenette is thin flat pasta that I love but your favorite long-cut pasta will be fine in this recipe as well, use whatever you have in your pantry. This style of pesto is made in the style of Luca with green beans and diced small potatoes.

BASIL TIP: When you bring basil home from the store, store it on the counter in a glass of water like cut flowers with a large plastic food storage bag over the leaves to create a small greenhouse for the basil to continue to grow. Every few days, replace the water. Never store it in the fridge - it will turn black and go bad quickly.

Recipe featured on Rachael Ray's Meals in Minutes.

Ingredients

2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon of lemon zest plus the juice of 1 small lemon
3 tablespoons each of Sicilian pistachio and pine nuts, toasted
About 1/2 cup EVOO, plus more as needed
Salt and a pinch of red pepper flakes or black pepper, to taste
2 cups loosely packed grated pecorino cheese or grated pecorino and Parmigiano combined
1 pound trenette pasta or other log cut pasta of choice
1 ½ pounds small thin skinned potatoes, diced
1 pound haricots verts, ends trimmed and cut into thirds on a bias

Directions

Fill a braiser or other wide pot with water and bring to a boil.

Place the basil in a food processor and add lemon zest, lemon juice, and toasted nuts. Start to process together and then stream in the olive oil while pulsing into a thick sauce, season with salt and red pepper flakes or black pepper. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the cheese. Stirring the cheese in later gives the pesto a brighter, stronger color and better texture. Stir in a little extra EVOO to loosen the pesto, as needed.

Season the pasta water with salt and add in pasta. After the pasta has cooked for 5 minutes, add in the potatoes and green beans.

Cook pasta a minute less than instructed on the package directions and reserve 1 full cup of salty hot water before draining. Drain pasta, potatoes and green beans.

Add the cup of salty cooking water to the pesto and combine with pasta, potatoes and green beans. Toss together and transfer to a serving bowl.

Serve immediately.