Pasta, Green Beans and Potatoes With Pesto Recipe (2024)

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.

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!

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!

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.

Used garlic scape and arugula pesto from the freezer. I had a bag of the small tricolor baby potatoes and some French green beans. Perfect, hearty meal for a gray chilly day. This is a classic for a reason!

This was my go-to party dish back in the '70s when I was newly-married working student, from a recipe in Bon Appetit magazine. Always delicious, quick, inexpensive feast for a crowd.

It was wonderful to use the last of my summer basil and green beans in this recipe. Followed it as is and this is a tasty end of summer pesto meal in one!

i agree that the cooking times for the potatoes and green beans are much too long. Also, making extra pesto is a good idea because I thought it could use more... and what is not to like about left over pesto!

I used pesto that I had already made with basil from my garden. Frozen green beans. I used more potatoes than called for, And I had less pasta than called for. I used tagliatelle. Very good. Be liberal with the salt.

Roasted green beans and potatoes on separate trays 15” at 425. Added to cooked pasta. Put TBL Butter at bottom of large silver pan to mix all together ADDED COSTCO PESTO

Funny, we just got back from Sestri Levante, Itay. Had this dish in a local restaurant and thought I hit the jackpot. It way fantastic and simple. Now I'm reading this and realize I'm late to the party. LOL. So simple and so good too....

My husband is originally from Genova. When I first went there with him I ate this in a common restaurant near the docks. It wasn't presented elegantly. He said it was called "pesto with the advantage" and said the name of the dish in what was either Italian or Genoese dialect, he wasn't use of the etymology. It was just the pasta with pesto and a little bit of green bean and potato added. It was heavenly. Apparently one could order the pesto with or without "the advantage".

I use potato gnocchi with superb results.

I made this tonight and was so pleasantly surprised! I did the backwards cooking method others had suggested, pasta, potatoes then green beans. Perfect textures. I was short on time so used packaged pesto. Using a pound of pasta the 7oz of pesto was barely enough, but I might just be obsessed with pesto. Again, was surprised it was as good with a thinner layer of pesto, but it was! Definite easy week night meal that would go with lots of proteins.

This is in regular summer rotation for me. I also do an “extended version” where I add blanched fresh corn & fresh sliced cherry tomatoes. Heaven.

My father’s family was Italian, and my Russian mother learned to make all of the great Italian dishes. Green beans and potatoes with olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes was served as a tasty side dish, but never mixed with pasta. I have a similar pasta with pesto recipe that uses peas as the vegetable. I will now try it with the green beans and potatoes.

We enjoyed this with farmers market potatoes and green beans. So fresh. But 8 servings? Maybe in Italy. I cut the pasta amount in half but kept the veggies the same and the 2 of us ate it all. Also I used Costco's pesto because I had it in the fridge.

Had it. In Liguria. Not for me. Carbs, carbs, more carbs and only the pesto to distract.

We call this Luca pasta. Anyone familiar with the movie Luca knows this dish. Everyone in the family lives it, including the kids.