Fettucine with Pesto & Beans

June 5 - takeout from Queen Margherita Pizza
June 6 - Fettucine with pesto & beans and a caprese salad for Meatless Monday
June 7 - ended up at the Fill Station so I could watch my Red Sox destroy the Yankees

After a weekend chock full of food at the cottage, I guess that's what happens when your friends are all foodies and you invite them away for the weekend, I couldn't have been more ready for Meatless Monday. Since I've been full time back in town I haven't consistently been following along with my Meatless Monday pledge and am happy to be back on the wagon, especially with a dish like this.  So simple and packed full of flavor, I have a feeling I'll be regretting using it up this early in the summer.


This dish is a take on the traditional Genovese pasta and pesto where they throw cubed up potatoes and string beans in with the pasta as it cooked and toss the hot pasta and veggies together with freshly made basil pesto.  Well my basil plants haven't taken off yet and I had a whole container of ramp & arugula pesto just waiting for me to use some before freezing the rest.  And the boy is trying to get in shape and loose weight so I figured the added carbs of potatoes weren't necessary this time, so I amp up the amount of beans and used a high-fiber white pasta and voila this delicious and simple dish was on the table.

Fettucine with Pesto & Beans
serves 2

1/2 lb dry fettucine or linguine
1 good handful of fresh green beans - washed and trimmed
1/3 - 1/2 cup fresh pesto - I used this one but any green based pesto will work
salt & black pepper

1.  Bring a large pot of salted water (should be salty like the sea) to a boil.  Add in the pasta and beans.  Cook according to the package direction for al dente.
2.  Drain the cooked pasta and beans, reserving a bit of the cooking water.  Add the hot pasta and beans back into the pot and toss with the pesto until the pasta and beans are lightly coated.  Add a bit of pasta water if you want to loosen things up a bit.
3. Serve topped with lots of fresh cracked black pepper.