Gigli al pesto Genovese con fagiolini: Lilies and greenbeans with pesto
I guess by now everyone knows that pasta with pesto in Genoa is served with chunks of boiled potato and stringbeans, yes? And it’s good, even if you don’t have potatoes.
The typical pasta is trofie, but I didn’t have any, so these gigli seemed close enough. Gigli only resemble Calla lilies and not any other kind of lily, but they are pretty until you mess them about with sauce. I toss the greenbeans into the pasta water about three minutes before the pasta should be done. Potatoes take longer, so they are cooked separately or not used.
So I made pesto Genovese using a stickblender. Pretty slick, I think. If anyone is allergic to pinenuts, just don’t use them. It isn’t pinenut sauce, it’s basil sauce.
Stick Blender Pesto Genovese
Basil
2 cloves garlic
2 ounces grated cheeses, ideally half Parmigiano and half Pecorino
1 cup-250 ml extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste
a handful of pinenuts
Wash and dry enough fresh basil to fill a tall container. I think of this as two firmly gripped handsful.
Peel two cloves of garlic. Put the basil into the cntainer and pouncing up and down, mince the basil until it’s in pieces. Add the garlic and do it some more. Add about 1/2 cup-125 ml of extra virgin olive oil and blend continuously to make a paste. Gradually add up to 1/2 cup-125 ml more oil until it’s smooth and creamy.
Add the cheeses and blend. Add the pinenuts and blend until they are minced but still have a bit of texture. Taste and correct for salt.
This is enough for a lot of pasta. It usually takes about 63 ml or 1/4 cup of pesto for a whole dishful (85 grams) of pasta. Keep the leftovers either in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze them. When you want to use any leftover pesto, it’s best to add a little oil to it to loosen it up.
I ate leftover pesto last night smeared on a piece of ciabatta with sliced tomatoes and leftover mozzarella. It was just wonderful. I also stir a spoonful into vegetable soup just before serving it and that’s pretty darned terrific, too.
Tell me all your pesto secrets?
This looks *so* good. LOVE pesto. Like you, I’ll use it leftover on bread — pesto on a regular old ham (prosciutto) and cheese makes lunch into an event IMHO. Great photo too :)
Meg McCaffrey and I meet once a year in Genoa on an IKEA napkins-and-candles run. There is a cute little dive near the store that does the most unbelievable plate of exactly this (ok, with trofie). So much better than the IKEA restaurant.
My husband and i have a philosophical disagreement about the leftover use of pesto. I want it on bread. He wants to boil pasta for it. We will never agree on this one.
I made this last night and we had leftovers for lunch. It´s even nice cold… ok so it wasn´t gigli but plain trofie but yummy just the same.
I’ll take it on bread or pasta.
Yeah, both gets my vote. Pesto on toasted anything is great breakfast, ladies. I never have problems with vampires when I eat the breakfast of campionesse.
Thanks for sharing this. I think Ligurian cuisine is one of the most underrated in Italy (and Genova one of its most underrated cities). I’ve got a friend whose brother has a restaurant there, Sotto le Mura (on the Piazza Campo Pisano), and it is some of the most amazing food I’ve ever had in Italy. Someone needs to do a book on this cuisine, in English, because I don’t think it’s been done yet.