Pasta al Pesto e Patate (Pasta with Pesto and Potatoes)
 
 
Author:
Recipe type: First Course
Cuisine: Italian ( Genova )
Ingredients
  • Pesto Ingredients
  • 7 oz./200 g. basil leaves
  • 3 T. Parmigiano cheese
  • 1 T. Pecorino cheese
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 oz./28 g. pinoli
  • ½ c./125 ml. extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt
  • 12 oz./340 g. spaghetti or trenette
  • 2 potatoes medium size
  • Olive oil
  • 1 T. boiling water of the pasta
  • Parmigiano cheese to taste
Instructions
  1. Prepare the basil leaves by peeling them off one by one. They shouldn't be washed but I always do it. The original recipe calls that the leaves are blended with the other ingredients with only the addition of olive oil, but I prefer the following version:
  2. Boil 2 or 3 liters of salted water.
  3. Grate the Parmigiano cheese and put it aside. Same with Pecorino cheese.
  4. Chop the garlic.
  5. When the water is boiling, put the basil leaves in the pot for just a few seconds. Keep ⅓ cup of the water and drain the basil.
  6. In a blender or food processor - blend basil, ⅓ c. water, pinoli, garlic, parmigiano, pecorino, olive oil and ½ tsp. salt.
  7. Blend until you get a creamy consistency.
  8. You can keep it in the fridge for a few days but I like to put it in small glass jars and keep in the freezer. (See the video below).
  9. pesto alla genovese
  10. Boil salted water in a large pot.
  11. Peel and cut the potatoes into rounds.
  12. Put the pasta and potatoes into the boiling water and cook until done. Potatoes take about 10 minutes to cook.
  13. In the meantime keep 1 tablespoon of the boiling water aside.
  14. Put ½ c. pesto in a bowl, add 1 T. of boiling water.
  15. Drain pasta and potatoes and add them to the pesto. Flavor with 1 or 2 tablespoons olive oil (also butter is very good!) and mix.
  16. Adjust pesto, oil and salt. Sprinkle with extra Parmigiano cheese and serve.
Recipe by Ortensia Blu at https://ortensiablutraveladventures.com/pasta-with-pesto-recipe/