Trenette al Pesto with Potatoes and Green Beans (Genoa)
Genoese basil pesto pounded in a mortar from garlic, pine nuts, basil, Parmigiano, sheep's cheese and mild olive oil, tossed with trenette boiled in the same pot as cubes of potato and short lengths of green bean.
Pesto comes from the Genoese verb pestâ, to pound, and Wikipedia says the classic is made in a marble mortar with a wooden pestle. Romans ate a pounded paste of garlic, cheese and herbs called moretum, and medieval Genoa had agliata, garlic and walnuts. Basil arrived later: Wikipedia says it is first documented in the 1850s, and quotes Giovanni Battista Ratto's 1863 La Cuciniera Genovese, which pounds garlic, basil, Dutch and Parmigiano cheese and pine nuts and uses the paste to dress lasagne and trofie. Ratto's Dutch cheese is a trace of Genoa's sea trade; today's recipes use pecorino from Sardinia.
Trenette are Genoa's own narrow, flat pasta, similar to linguine, and the classic plate is trenette al pesto with potatoes and green beans boiled in the same water. Daniel Gritzer of Serious Eats tested every variable he could think of for his pesto, from mortar against food processor to which cheese, and lands on the old way: pound it by hand. America met pesto in a 1928 recipe with butter and cream, Wikipedia says, and it took off here only in the 1980s and 1990s.
Why it works the kitchen science
Pounding, not chopping
A mortar crushes the basil instead of slicing it, and the coarse salt acts as an abrasive, so the leaves turn into a fine, creamy paste.
One pot
The potato and beans cook in the pasta water, and the starch from the potato and pasta helps the pesto and water come together into a creamy sauce on the noodles.
Step by step
- Step 1
In a marble mortar, pound the garlic with a wooden pestle about 1 minute, until it is a paste.
- Step 2
Add the pine nuts and keep crushing and grinding, 2 to 3 minutes, until you have a sticky, beige paste with only a few small pieces.
- Step 3
Add the basil a handful at a time with a pinch of coarse salt each time, pounding and grinding the leaves against the walls of the mortar, 10 to 15 minutes in all, until every leaf is in fine bits.
- Step 4
Stir in both cheeses, then drizzle in the oil slowly, working it in with the pestle about 3 minutes, until the pesto is smooth, creamy and holds together.
- Step 5
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the trenette, potato and green beans together and boil until the pasta is al dente and the potato and beans are very tender, usually 9 to 12 minutes.
- Step 6
Scoop out 1 cup of the water and drain. Tip the pasta, potato and beans into a large bowl, add the pesto and 1/4 cup of the water, and toss about 1 minute, until creamy, adding more water a spoonful at a time if it looks dry.
- Step 7
Drizzle with a little fresh olive oil if you like and serve with Parmigiano on the side.
Trenette al Pesto with Potatoes and Green Beans (Genoa)
Serves 4 · 4 plates (about 1 cup pesto) · 50 min total
Pesto
- 2 medium garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp pine nuts
- 3 oz fresh basil leaves (from about a 4-oz bunch), washed, with water still clinging
- Coarse sea salt
- 3/4 oz (about 2 tbsp) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 3/4 oz (about 2 tbsp) grated Pecorino Fiore Sardo (or Pecorino Romano)
- 3/4 cup mild extra-virgin olive oil
Pasta
- Kosher salt, for the water
- 1 lb dried trenette (or linguine)
- 5 oz peeled Yukon Gold potato (about 1/2 medium), cut into 3/4-inch cubes
- 4 oz green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths on a bias
- Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and extra-virgin olive oil, for serving
Method
- In a marble mortar, pound the garlic with a wooden pestle about 1 minute, until it is a paste.
- Add the pine nuts and keep crushing and grinding, 2 to 3 minutes, until you have a sticky, beige paste with only a few small pieces.
- Add the basil a handful at a time with a pinch of coarse salt each time, pounding and grinding the leaves against the walls of the mortar, 10 to 15 minutes in all, until every leaf is in fine bits.
- Stir in both cheeses, then drizzle in the oil slowly, working it in with the pestle about 3 minutes, until the pesto is smooth, creamy and holds together.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the trenette, potato and green beans together and boil until the pasta is al dente and the potato and beans are very tender, usually 9 to 12 minutes.
- Scoop out 1 cup of the water and drain. Tip the pasta, potato and beans into a large bowl, add the pesto and 1/4 cup of the water, and toss about 1 minute, until creamy, adding more water a spoonful at a time if it looks dry.
- Drizzle with a little fresh olive oil if you like and serve with Parmigiano on the side.
Adapted from two recipes by Daniel Gritzer, Serious Eats: "The Best Pesto alla Genovese (Classic Basil Pesto Sauce)" (published July 16, 2014, updated September 24, 2025), about 1 cup, serves 4: and "Pesto Pasta With Potatoes and Green Beans" (published February 18, 2016, updated March 5, 2025). We follow them as written: 2 garlic cloves, 2 tbsp (30 g as Gritzer lists it) pine nuts, 3 oz basil, 3/4 oz each Parmigiano-Reggiano and Pecorino Fiore Sardo and 3/4 cup mild olive oil, pounded in that order; then 1 lb trenette, 5 oz potato in 3/4-inch cubes and 4 oz green beans boiled together, and 1/4 cup pasta water to loosen. The pasta recipe card says 6 servings and its nutrition panel says 4; we use 4. The pounding times are ours. Serious Eats. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
Tips
- No mortar? Wikipedia's account of the method says pulse a food processor in short bursts; Gritzer prefers the mortar.
- Pesto is never cooked; it goes on the hot pasta off the heat.
- Leftover pesto keeps covered with a thin layer of oil in the fridge (Gritzer); Wikipedia says up to a week.
- Gritzer also lists linguine or mafalde if you cannot find trenette.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Pesto must be made in a marble mortar. Folklore as a rule: Wikipedia calls the mortar traditional; machines are widely used.
- Pine nuts and nothing else. Disputed: Wikipedia lists the classic as pine nuts; walnuts were Genoa's medieval nut (agliata), and many modern recipes swap nuts.
- Potatoes and green beans belong in the pot. Disputed: Wikipedia's Trenette article says the dish "can also include" them; Gritzer calls it the classic Genoese method.
- Basil has always been the base. Disputed: Wikipedia says basil is first documented only in the 1850s and Ratto allowed marjoram and parsley when basil was lacking.
- Pesto genovese is UNESCO heritage. Folklore: Wikipedia says a proposal is being prepared, not that it has been granted.
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