Ligurian Trofie pasta with Green Beans, potato and pesto

Trofie are short, thin knotted stripes of past, Liguria in north-western Italty.

The region is also famous for its fresh basil, so pesto sauce is Trofie’s perfect parthner. Of course, you can buy decent ready-made pesto but making your own is pretty easy and gives the finished dish extra depth of flavour. Not to mention if you’re doing a vegan pesto best to to do a homemade pesto.

Ingredients:

350g Trofie pasta or any short pasta

250g small potatoes, halved

100g fine green beans

4 tablespoons basil pesto sauce

4 tablespoons vegan Parmesan cheese, finely grated

Method:

1.Bring a large pan of water to boil, Add the pasta and cook for 5 minutes, until starts to soften.

2.Add the new potatoes and cook 5 minutes more, then add the green beans and cook for a final 3-4 minutes until tender.

3.Drain the pasta, potatoes and beans, saving a ladleful of the cooking water, and return to the pan.

4.Add the pesto sauce and a little of the cooking water. Stir well, then sprinkle with the Parmesan and serve immediately.

Basil pesto Sauce

Ingredients:

1 small garlic clove

1 pinch sea salt

25g pine nuts, very lightly toasted

50g fresh basil

25g vegan Parmesan cheese, finely grated

Juice of ½ lemon

75ml extra virgin olive oil

Method:

1.Place the garlic in a pestle and mortar with the sea salt, and pound until you’ve crushed the garlic to a paste. Add the pine nuts if using and basil, and continue to pound until you have a coarse paste. (If you prefer, you can do this stage in a food processor.)

2.Transfer the paste to a bowl, and stir in the Parmesan, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil-along with enough water to make a thick sauce.

Fresh pesto can be made in advance and stored in the fridge in a sealed container with a thin layer of olive oil on the top for up to 5 days.

LAMONA

Howdens joinery co.

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