Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
- 3/4 pound (320 g) dried trenette or other pasta (whole wheat pasta is perfect here)
- 1/4 pound (100 g) tender string beans
- 2 medium-sized potatoes
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup pesto sauce (see link below)
- More grated Parmigiano for dusting
Preparation:
Instructions for making pesto sauce.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. While it's heating, peel and dice the potatoes, and wash and cut the string beans in two. When the water comes to a boil add the vegetables and cook until almost done, about 10 minutes. Add the pasta (trenette cook in 3-5 minutes -- if you're using spaghetti instead, which take 10-12 minutes, add them to the water that much sooner), and when it is still slightly al dente transfer the mixture to a bowl. Stir in the pesto, which you will have diluted with a tablespoon or two of pasta water, dust with the grated Parmigiano, and serve, with a light white wine, for example Vermentino or Pigato.
Variation:
You can also make trenette coi fagiolini, trenette with string beans, by following the instructions given above but increasing the pasta to 1 1/4 pounds and the string beans to 3/4 pound, and omitting the potato (if you decide to include it, reduce the string beans by a proportionate amount). In this case use about 1/3 cup of pesto sauce (diluted with a tablespoon or two of the pasta water), and dust the pasta with abundant freshly grated Parmigiano before serving. This would work nicely with a zesty, light red wine, for example Rossese di Dolceacqua or Valpolicella Classico.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. While it's heating, peel and dice the potatoes, and wash and cut the string beans in two. When the water comes to a boil add the vegetables and cook until almost done, about 10 minutes. Add the pasta (trenette cook in 3-5 minutes -- if you're using spaghetti instead, which take 10-12 minutes, add them to the water that much sooner), and when it is still slightly al dente transfer the mixture to a bowl. Stir in the pesto, which you will have diluted with a tablespoon or two of pasta water, dust with the grated Parmigiano, and serve, with a light white wine, for example Vermentino or Pigato.
Variation:
You can also make trenette coi fagiolini, trenette with string beans, by following the instructions given above but increasing the pasta to 1 1/4 pounds and the string beans to 3/4 pound, and omitting the potato (if you decide to include it, reduce the string beans by a proportionate amount). In this case use about 1/3 cup of pesto sauce (diluted with a tablespoon or two of the pasta water), and dust the pasta with abundant freshly grated Parmigiano before serving. This would work nicely with a zesty, light red wine, for example Rossese di Dolceacqua or Valpolicella Classico.