Recipes › Basil › Classic Genovese Basil Pesto with Trofie Pasta
Classic Genovese Basil Pesto with Trofie Pasta
This is pesto as it should be — made with a generous pile of fresh basil and eaten the same day. Trofie pasta catches the sauce in every twist, but the pesto itself is the thing: bright green, fragrant, and tasting unmistakably of summer. Once you have made it properly you will struggle to go back to a jar.
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Ingredients
- 80 g fresh basil leaves, washed and thoroughly dried
- 40 g pine nuts, lightly toastedor use blanched almonds for a slightly sweeter pesto
- 50 g Parmesan, finely grated
- 25 g Pecorino Romano, finely grated
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 100 ml extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 400 trofie pasta (gluten-free)or use standard trofie if gluten is not a concern, or fusilli
- 200 g waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
- 100 fine green beans, trimmed and halved
Contains: cereals gluten, milk, nuts.
Method
- Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan over a medium-low heat for 3–4 minutes, shaking regularly, until golden. Tip onto a plate and leave to cool completely.About 4 min
- Place the basil, cooled pine nuts, garlic, and salt into a food processor. Pulse until you have a coarse paste — about 10 short pulses. Do not over-process; you want texture, not a smooth purée.About 2 min
- Add the Parmesan and Pecorino and pulse 4–5 more times. With the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil in a slow, steady stream until the pesto is combined but still has body. Taste and adjust the salt. Scrape into a bowl.About 2 min
- Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil. Add the potato cubes and cook for 4 minutes, then add the pasta. Cook according to the pasta packet instructions (usually 8–10 minutes for gluten-free trofie), adding the green beans for the final 3 minutes of cooking.About 12 min
- Reserve 100ml of the starchy pasta cooking water before draining. Drain the pasta, potatoes, and beans together, then return everything to the warm pot.About 1 min
- Add the pesto to the pot along with 3–4 tablespoons of the reserved pasta water. Toss vigorously over a very low heat for 1 minute until everything is glossy and well coated. Add a splash more pasta water if it looks too thick. Serve immediately.About 2 min
Tips
- Dry your basil leaves really well after washing — any water on the leaves will make the pesto watery and cause it to oxidise and darken faster.
- Adding potato and green beans is the traditional Ligurian way — it sounds odd but the starchy potato helps the sauce cling to the pasta and makes this genuinely filling.
- If your pesto turns khaki-green by the time you serve it, your basil was too warm. Keep the leaves in the fridge right up until you make the sauce.
Ring the changes
- Swap the trofie for linguine or regular fusilli if you cannot find trofie — the sauce coats long pasta beautifully too.
- For a dairy-free version, replace both cheeses with 4 tablespoons of nutritional yeast and increase the salt slightly.
Keeping it
The pesto keeps in a sterilised jar in the fridge for up to 5 days — press cling film directly onto the surface or pour a thin layer of olive oil over the top to prevent browning. The finished pasta dish is best eaten immediately and does not reheat well.
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