Tagliatelle Genovese - I love it.

I've mentioned my love for Tagliatelle Genovese previously.

It's a classic Italian dish of Pesto, Potatoes, Pasta and Green Beans - amazingly good.

I eat it during the week all the time, mainly because its gorgeous, secondly because its quick to make and thirdly - it's cheap! (Another bonus I forgot to mention, its a one saucepan recipe!)

When your making this, you could use ready-made Pesto - but I've yet to find one that doesn't taste awful. So unless you can pick up some from a good local Deli - make your own.

It's easy, and only takes 5 minutes.

(It's even easier If you've got a Food Processor or one of those Mini-Blender gadgets. If not, I'm afraid it's a bit of chopping and grating for you!)

I normally try and make the Pesto the night before, so I can breeze in from work and 20 mins later be serving the food up.

Here's the Pesto recipe I use:-

Pesto - 5 mins preparation time.

You'll need:-

Large Bunch of Basil (I get mine from Waitrose or G. Gazzano & Sons in Farringdon, they both do a massive bag for about £1.70- otherwise your looking at getting 3 of the miserly bags they do in Tesco's/Sainsbury's) Basically - your need about 3 good handfuls.

1 Clove of Garlic.
1 Lemon
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
100g Parmesan
50g lightly toasted Pine Nuts (2 mins under a hot grill - no more, they'll burn)
Salt+Pepper to taste.

Blitz your garlic with your Parmesan (cut it into chunks beforehand) in the mini-blender.
Add the Basil (leaves only),
Add the toasted Pine-Nuts.
Add a lug of Olive Oil.
Squash it all down!
Then Blitz it some more - you should end up with a green grainy paste.
Add a Big squeeze of lemon juice.
If it's too dry add more Olive Oil - it should be a loose paste.
Taste it, and add more Lemon juice if you think it needs it. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Stir it all in.

That's your Pesto made.
This amount is enough to make Tagliatelle Genovese for 2 people for 2 nights.
It keeps for a good few days in a sealed container in the fridge.

Now that you've made the Pesto - Here's the Pasta Recipe:-

Tagliatelle Genovese (2 People) 18 Min cooking time.

You'll need:-

1 medium Potato - Desiree/Maris Piper - Peeled and cut into 1cm thick slices.
Fist Full of Green Beans - Washed and topped and tailed.

250g Tagliatelle (Half a standard bag - quality matters here - I've tried the cheaper brands and they're missing something - De Cecco is a great brand stocked by most of the Supermarkets, Napolina Tagliatelle is nice as well.)

Half your Pesto from the recipe above.
Parmesan for grating.


Get a large Saucepan of salted water on the boil.
Add your Potato slices - and cook for 8 mins.
Now add your Tagliatelle to the same saucepan - and cook for 5 mins.
Finally, to the same saucepan add your fine green beans. - cook for 3 mins.
Drain in a colander - reserving some of the cooking water.
Tip your combined Potato, Pasta and Green Bean mixture back into the large (now) dry saucepan.
Add your Pesto and mix it in - breaking up the potatoes a bit.
Add some of the reserved cooking water if its too dry - the Pesto should coat everything and be silky.
Add Salt+Pepper to taste.
Serve, with grated Parmesan on top.
Eat it!

I'm really hungry now writing this - But luckily....I'm cooking this tonight!