Trofie al Pesto di Basilico con Patate e Fagiolini Ligure

Ingredients

• 400 g trofie, fresh if possible; dried otherwise
• 200 g waxy potato, diced small
• 150 g green beans, trimmed
• For the pesto
• 50 g fresh Genovese basil leaves, small young leaves preferred
• 30 g pine nuts
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 50 g Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated
• 20 g Pecorino Sardo, finely grated
• 80 ml extra-virgin olive oil, Ligurian if available
• 1 pinch coarse sea salt, for the mortar
• 1 tbsp pasta cooking water, reserved just before draining

Method

1. 1
   Pound the garlic with the coarse salt in a large marble mortar until a smooth paste forms. Add the pine nuts and reduce to a rough paste. Introduce the basil leaves in two or three additions, working the pestle in a rotary motion against the mortar wall rather than crushing straight down; each addition should be fully incorporated before the next goes in. The paste is ready when it is uniformly green and faintly oily — no whole leaf fragments remain.
2. 2
   Work the grated Parmigiano and Pecorino into the basil paste with the pestle. Add the olive oil in a thin stream, stirring with the pestle until the pesto is cohesive and evenly emulsified. Set aside at room temperature. The pesto must not be heated at any point.
3. 3
   Bring a large pot of water to a full rolling boil. Season it generously with salt — the potato and beans absorb water and require a well-salted liquid. Add the diced potato. Cook for 10 minutes, until the cubes are just tender at their centres when pressed with a fingernail but have not begun to break apart.
4. 4
   Add the trimmed green beans to the same pot. Cook for 6 minutes alongside the potato. The beans are ready when they bend without snapping and show a deep, saturated green with no raw grassy smell remaining.
5. 5
   Add the trofie to the same pot without draining the vegetables. Cook for 3–4 minutes for fresh trofie, or according to the package for dried. Reserve one tablespoon of the cooking water before draining. Drain everything together — pasta, potato, and beans — in a single action. The trofie are done when each piece is al dente: firm resistance at the very centre, no raw flour taste.
6. 6
   Stir the reserved tablespoon of hot cooking water into the pesto in the mortar. Transfer the drained pasta, potato, and beans immediately to a warmed bowl. Spoon over all the pesto and fold together at once — the pasta must still be very hot so that the heat of the trofie alone loosens and distributes the pesto. Every groove of every piece of pasta should be coated; no pooling of pesto at the base of the bowl. Serve without delay.