Categories: May

Ingredients

• 40g pine nuts, lightly toasted
• 1/2 small garlic clove
• 1 big bunch (about 60g) fresh basil, leaves picked, coarsely chopped, plus extra to serve
• juice of 1 lemon
• extra-virgin olive oil
• 150g Pecorino cheese, grated
• 200g new potatoes
• 500g fresh tagliatelle
• big handful of fine green beans, topped and tailed

Directions

1. Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Meanwhile, crush the pine nuts in a pestle and mortar with the garlic. Scoop out, put to one side, then put the basil in the mortar with a pinch of sea salt and bash until it turns into a green paste. Return the bashed nuts and garlic to the mortar with the lemon juice, a few tablespoons of oil and half the Pecorino. Stir together and season well with salt and a little pepper.

2. Peel the potatoes, discarding the peel, then continue stripping the potato with the peeler until you have a pile of thin potato strips.

3. Add some salt to the boiling water and add the tagliatelle, the trimmed beans and the potato strips. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the beans are cooked but still have a slight bite, the pasta is al dente and the potatoes are cooked through. Drain in a colander, reserving a little of the cooking water.

4. Toss the cooked pasta and vegetables in a bowl with the pesto. Taste and season again, if necessary. Add a little of the reserved pasta cooking water to moisten the sauce if it’s a little thick and claggy. Serve sprinkled with the remaining Pecorino and extra basil.

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