Pasta, Green Beans and Potatoes With Pesto

This is a classic, wonderful Italian recipe from Liguria.If you are wary about the timing,ie first the potatoes,then the green beans then the pasta,just first do the potatoes,when almost done take them out of the water,let the water continue,add the beans, take them out when almost done,keep the water going and add the pasta until done,keep the beans and potatoes in a bowl that can be kept warm,when the pasta is done,then mix everything together.PS: I live in Italy and everyone loves my version.

If the potatoes are sliced 1/4", then they don't need 15-20 minutes cooking. Nor do green beans need 10-15 minutes cookings. I work backwards from how long it will take the pasta to cook. I cut the potatoes a little thicker, but they still don't need more than 6-7 mins, and the green beans shouldn't need more than 5. So I usually put the pasta in first, and then when it has about 7 mins left I add the potatoes, and then a minute or two later I add the green beans.

Here’s a trick straight outta Genova. Before draining the pasta, put a little butter (Genova is in the North) or extra olive oil in the bottom of your serving bowl. Add half the pesto you will use and a ladle of the starchy water you’re about to drain away. Mix that up, then drain and continue as you were.

My Nonno Lorenzo made this dish for us in 1960, in Mountain View , California, when Silicon Valley was Santa Clara Valley and a farming community. He was Piedmontese and 80 years old. I was 12. I was used to red sauces, and thought it weird to have a plate of green pasta placed before me...especially with potatoes...but I still taste the fresh basil...harvest your basil now, and make this dish! And say a small prayer for Lorenzo...

I know it sounds weird, but this is a really great summer recipe, especially with in-season new potatoes and green beans. Cut prep short by using pre-made pesto. I prefer my beans and potatoes roasted, not boiled, and cooking everything concurrently instead of consecutively gets it to the table that much faster. We make this every summer.

This is actually a dish from Genoa. Marcella Hazan has said that there is no single dish more delicious in the entire Italian pasta repertory, and she's right.

I'm about to say something that I'm sure will be upsetting to someone, but it's a great time saver... I use a can of potatoes. They are already cooked and sliced, just rinse them off and stir them in. With good pesto and fresh green beans, no one knows the potatoes are from a can.

This is absolutely wonderful when you get it right. But there's the rub: it is awfully easy to overcook either the potatoes or the green beans, in which case the dish is not wonderful at all. I have found that cooking all three items separately until the last minute or so works better than trying to hit the timing jackpot. Throw everything (mostly cooked) into the same pot with the pasta when the pasta is almost done, needing perhaps another minute.

Bellissimo! Made this with whole wheat linguine and purchased Costco pesto ( ingredients are from the Liguire region of Italy). Used thin-skinned baby Yukon potatoes (left skin on)!Boiled them for 8 min and then added green beans for 2 minutes. Removed them and followed package direction for cooking the pasta. Awesome! Will make again!

My grandparents came from Italy, Liguria and Piemonte, we had this dish often growing up. Sometimes with the green beans, sometimes just with potatoes, depending on what was available in my grandmother's kitchen. Always delicious. Trenette is the classic pasta served in Liguria with Pesto. No need to change a thing, you can't go wrong with this!

I actually first had this dish at a local Italian restaurant on Long Island and loved it so much that I went home and made it and it is now in my regular repertoire. In the spring I use asparagus instead of green beans and it’s delicious!

Pasta with potatoes? Reminded me of the time my son ordered mashed potatoes at a restaurant...with French fries on the side.

Made this today with great delicious results. Mostly followed the recipe (I made a couple of substitutions based on what I had in the house: substituted walnuts for pine nuts in the pesto, substituted campanelle for trenette). Followed the advice from the comments to change the order of cooking the pasta and veg in order to get better texture. Started with pasta, then added potatoes a few minutes in and then added green beans. It worked great and was easier than cooking each separately.

Oh, I forgot to say: you can cook the veggies and the pastor all in one part but do it in phases. I cut up the green beans or asparagus into small pieces, blanch them in the boiling water first, pull them out with a large slotted spoon or Chinese basket-thingy and set aside. Then cook the potatoes till tender. Pull them out and set aside. Then cook the pasta. Then toss all together with the pesto. That way you can cook each ingredient to your liking.

I’ve made this many times cooking whole Yukon Gold potatoes separately in the microwave and slicing them when done. The one time I put them into the pasta water, I ended up with a big pot of — paste! I have never cooked them that way again. Use the microwave.