Seriously: looking at these pics is like looking at pasty white-boy asscheeks that have never seen the light of day. Unappetizing, sickly, anemic-looking, you name it. Pasty white-boy asscheeks.
NONETHELESS, this is seriously f-ing good. What the Hell Does a Vegan Eat mentioned making pasta genovese last week, and I was like, that sounds so damn simple and tasty that I'm just gonna whip up my own on the weekend. And seriously: for those really unbearably hot days, this is a perfect meal. All you have to do is steam your potatoes and green beans and boil up some noodles. And pesto, well, goddamn. I mean, it's basil season, folks. So you could make bucketloads of this for dirt-cheap right now. (I've actually been making batches of it and freezing it in ice cube trays--a hint I procured from some other blog so long ago that I don't quite remember whose blog it was anymore. Anyways, it's a brilliant idea because, when you have a taste for pesto or just don't feel like cooking, you just pop a couple pesto-cubes out of your ice cube tray, let them thaw--or pop them into the microwave--and voila, homemade pesto.)
I don't really have exact measurements, because really, it all depends on how much you want of potatoes and green beans in your pasta. But this should give you a general idea. And it also includes the pesto recipe from VwaV (which is my favorite)--I've noted my alterations with the recipe, since I like my pesto thick and not-quite-so-oily.
The nice thing about this dish as well is that you can eat it piping hot or, if you're suffocating under the weight of the latest heat wave (which was my case this weekend), you can serve it cold and it tastes just as good.
INGREDIENTS:
For the pasta:
- Fettucine noodles
- Potatoes, cut into 1/2"-dice (I used red potatoes)
- Green beans, cut into 1" bites
For pesto:
- 1/2 c. walnuts
- 3 c. packed basil leaves
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 1/2 tsp course salt (or to taste)
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (I just add olive oil until the mix of walnuts, basil, nooch, etc. start to cling together)
- 1/4 c. nutritional yeast (optional)
- 2 tsp lemon juice (or, if you don't have any on hand, a couple t. of water works too)
DIRECTIONS
For pesto:
Toast the walnuts in the oven on a baking sheet at 175 degrees c for 10 mins. (Unless it's 90-degrees out or something, in which case, you can deal with untoasted walnuts. Just soak them in some warm water for 30 minutes and you'll get some of the bitterness out.)
Combine walnuts, basil, garlic and salt in food processor and process while you add the oil (or water) in a slow steady stream. Add the nutritional yeast and lemon juice and pulse to combine. The sauce should be the consistancy of a slightly grainy paste.
For everything else:
Toss your green beans and potatoes into a steamer and steam until tender. (Your potatoes will probably take a tiny bit longer than your green beans, so you may want to keep them segregated to separate sides of your steamer so that you can easily remove the green beans and set them aside when they're done.) Rinse to cool once they are done. Drain and set aside.
Cook your fettucine according to the directions on the box. Rinse with cold water and allow to drain.
To serve, toss a generous amount of potatoes and green beans in with your fettucine. Mix some healthy dollops of pesto into the mix, and serve.
Again, I give no quantities for the pasta/green beans/potatoes. I made single-servings of these, and kind of just eyeballed them. You're brilliant people. You'll figure it out.
(Pesto recipe from VwaV, posted at iVillage.co.uk)
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