Summer Recipe #6: Trenette Al Pesto
with homemade vegan pesto
Hello hello!
I hope you’re having a great week and that you’re coping with this crazy hot weather, if you’re also having a heat wave, just like we are in Spain. I don’t know if it can still be call a heat wave after more than two weeks… but anyway, I can’t complain as we have AC, which has been basically on 24/7!
The recipe I’m sending today is a great one to keep for a hot summer day, Trenette al Pesto. An easy one-pot pasta dish that brings all those delicious summer flavours to your table. You can make the pesto from scratch (I’ll guide you through that too), or buy it already made. If you’re vegan, that may get a bit tricky, as most brands don’t make a vegan version, but maybe you’re lucky and you have more options than we do!
If your summer gets as busy as mine, last week, I sent the first week’s meal plan for this month of July. It’s an easy meal plan that you can make for the whole family. I also included daily snacks to bring out or to have at home. This one was sent to everyone for free, so have a look!
For the past years, we've been growing our own basil plants for mainly two reasons: it makes for great natural pest control for our vegetable plants, and our family loves pesto! In early summer, we can start harvesting our pesto, and we much prefer doing this in bit batches, so we prepare a big jug of pesto that we freeze to keep for the coming months.
Once the basil plant starts to flower, the taste of the leaves changes, so we leave it to dry to keep the seeds for next year. This is how we have an unlimited supply of basil and, of course, pesto!
You don’t need all the basic ingredients to make your pesto; you can easily substitute the ingredients if you are missing some. Also, if you don’t have a basil plant, maybe you can combine different fresh herbs with store-bought basil, such as spinach and oregano.
So, what do you need to make pesto?
Fresh basil leaves. You'll need fresh basil to make your pesto. There are different types of basil, so make sure you're using a basil plant that has big leaves. You can also make basil with purple basil, which we've tried before, and the taste is very similar. Not enough basil? Add spinach, rocket salad, or fresh oregano!
Olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil is what you’ll need.
Pine nuts. I use pine nuts for my vegan pesto to keep this recipe as original as possible. Now, I know pine nuts can be very expensive, so you're more than welcome to use other types of nuts. If we don't have pine nuts, we normally add cashews or Macadamia nuts. Also pistachios work great!
Yeast flakes. This is our substitute for the parmesan that goes in the classic pesto. Nutritional yeast adds a cheesy flavor to the sauce. Check out some substitutes for nutritional yeast if you don't have this ingredient.
Garlic.
Cooking Method
First, you'll need to separate the leaves from the stems of your basil. To make pesto, you can use the whole plant, but we prefer to only use the leaves. Then, wash and dry all the leaves with a paper towel.
Add all the ingredients to make the pesto in a food processor or blender. We normally make a big batch when making pesto so we can freeze it, and our food processor works best for that. If you are making a smaller batch, a smaller blender will work fine.
Incorporate the fresh basil, pine nuts, yeast flakes, garlic cloves, and olive oil.
Blend all the ingredients, and if needed, keep adding some more olive oil while blending the pesto. You may need to stop a few times to scrape down the bits left on the sides of the blender and make sure all the leaves are finely chopped and incorporated into the pesto sauce.
Now, once the pesto is made, you can make your Trenette al pesto in no time!
Trenette al Pesto
Trenette al Pesto is a pasta dish that originates from Liguria, an Italian Region on the coastline. This recipe has become really popular since it was featured in the Disney movie Luca.
Our son, as well called Luca, loves the movie, so we thought making this would encourage him to finish the plate. Every time we make Trenette with Pesto, he has seconds!
Trenette is a type of long, thin, and flat pasta, really similar to Linguine. To make this recipe, you can use either Trenette or Linguine due to their similarities.
To make Trenette al Pesto, Trenette pasta is cooked with potatoes and green beans and then seasoned with fresh Basil Pesto. This dish is very similar to the traditional Italian potato salad, with the addition of pasta.
Ingredients
Trenette Pasta. For this recipe, you need Trenette, Linguine, or even Spaghetti.
Fresh Basil Pesto Sauce. For Trenette al Pesto, I always use fresh Basil Pesto. As mentioned before, you can use store-bought pesto or try making your own.
Potatoes and Green Beans. Trenette al Pesto calls for Potatoes. These are added while cooking the pasta together with green beans. For this pasta recipe, you want to use potatoes that hold their shape after cooking, such as Yukon Gold potatoes.
Cooking Method
Bring salted water to a boil. Add cut potatoes and green beans to the boiling water. For trenette al pesto you can cut the potatoes in medium-size cubes and the green beans in 3-4 cm long pieces.
Once the potatoes and green beans have been cooking for about 5 minutes, add the Trenette pasta. Stir and bring back to a boil. Cook the pasta until al dente.
Reserve one cup of the pasta water for later and drain the rest. Transfer the pasta, potatoes, and green beans to a big pot or pan.
Add the fresh basil pesto and reserved pasta water and mix well until all the pasta is well coated with the pesto sauce. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
Before serving, you can add some more fresh basil, pine nuts, and olive oil, to give your plate the perfect final touch.
This recipe is included in our Mediterranean e-book. We recently relaunched our e-book Mediterranean Kitchen with fresh new recipes, so make sure you download your copy to enjoy all the Mediterranean flavours this summer.
You’ll also gain free access to our premium content for one month!
Variations for our Trenette al Pesto
Make pesto without basil. If basil is not in season, you can change these ingredients for another green. Our favorite leaves to use when making pesto without basil are spinach or arugula. You can use veggies such as broccoli, avocado, or even carrot tops. So many different ingredients can be used to make green pesto when basil is not an option! Check out this Spinach pesto.
Make it gluten-free. Try to find a gluten-free flat and long pasta such as Linguine or Spaghetti. Make sure the yeast flakes you are using are gluten-free as well.
Add more veggies. The original Trenette al pesto is made with potatoes and green beans, but you can add more to that. Broccoli or zucchini are great options too.
Make it vegetarian. Use vegetarian hard cheese instead of yeast flakes to make your Basil Pesto.
Make it nut-free. You can easily make this recipe nut-free by not using pine nuts to make the pesto sauce.
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I hope you try and enjoy this summer pasta recipe!
Love,
Laura.