Jamie drizzling honey on top of a fig tart

Enter the email address associated with your account, and we’ll email you a link to reset your password.

Password Strength

Must contain at least

*Enter your email to receive news and exclusive offers from Jamie Oliver Limited about Jamie's businesses, including books, TV shows, restaurants, products, commercial partners and campaigning activities. By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use . Learn how we collect, use and share your data in our Privacy Policy .

pesto pasta

Tagliatelle, Genovese-style

Posh pasta and pesto

pesto pasta

20 mins
Super easy

serves 6

nutrition per serving

Calories

g

Fat

g

Saturates

g

Sugars

g

Salt

g

Protein

g

Carbs

g

Fibre

of an adult’s reference intake


Ingredients

a handful (about 40g) of pine nuts, lightly toasted

½ a small garlic clove

a big bunch (about 60g) of fresh basil, leaves picked, coarsely chopped, plus extra to serve

juice of 1 lemon

extra virgin olive oil

150g pecorino cheese, grated

200g new potatoes

500g fresh tagliatelle

a big handful of fine green beans, topped and tailed

Method

Just add greens beans and fine slices of potato and hey presto, you've got pasta Genovese

  1. Egg pasta and pesto together is a piece of cooking genius really, and just about the only successful tweak you can make is to add a few green beans and some very thinly sliced potato – like they often do in Genoa.
  2. If you haven’t had it before, try it – you’ll like it, and it’s really quick and easy.
  3. Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Meanwhile, crush the pine nuts in a pestle and mortar with the garlic. Scoop out, put to one side, then put the basil in the mortar with a pinch of sea salt and bash until it turns into a green paste. Return the bashed nuts and garlic to the mortar with the lemon juice, a few tablespoons of oil and half the pecorino. Stir together and season well with salt and a little pepper.
  4. Peel the potatoes, discarding the peel, then continue stripping the potato with the peeler until you have a pile of thin potato strips.
  5. Add some salt to the boiling water and add the tagliatelle, the trimmed beans and the potato strips. Cook for 2–3 minutes until the beans are cooked but still have a slight bite, the pasta is al dente and the potatoes are cooked through. Drain in a colander, reserving a little of the cooking water.
  6. Toss the cooked pasta and vegetables in a bowl with the pesto. Taste and season again, if necessary. Add a little of the reserved pasta cooking water to moisten the sauce if it’s a little thick and claggy. Serve sprinkled with the remaining pecorino and extra basil.

Tags

Recipes you may like

related features