(Ligurian trofie with vegetables - Our recipe)

Italian short pasta with green beans and potaoes. The image shows Genoese short pasta dressed with no-garlic pesto, green bean (string beans or French beans) and potato pieces

250 g (8 1/2 oz) Ligurian fresh trofie or other short pasta
300 g (10 1/2 oz) string beans
250 g (8 1/2 oz) peeled potatoes
35 g (1 1/4 oz) fresh basil
1 tablespoon pine nuts
3 anchovy fillets in oil
1 tablespoon dried chives
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Grated Parmesan cheese, if you like
Salt

Time:
preparation: 30 minutes
cooking: 50 minutes
Difficulty:
easy
Nutrition Facts (amount per serving):
Calories: 596 (kCal) - 2494 (kJ)
Protein: 14.7 (g)
Total fat: 22.0 (g)
Total carbohydrate: 68.4 (g)
Sugars: 6.2 (g)

This recipe of ours derives from traditional Ligurian trofie dressed with pesto sauce but it has some differences; for example we don't use garlic and so our basil sauce is very different from pesto. However this dish is very light and tasty.

You can also use frozen string beans. Steam potatoes and string beans; in this way vegetables don't absorb too much water.
Wash accurately basil and purée it with pine nuts and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a blender or food processor until smooth.
When potatoes and string beans are ready, prepare the dressing for your pasta. Put the ingredients in a non-stick frying pan in this sequence: the remaining oil, anchovy fillets, string beans and potatoes (cut in medium pieces), chives, marjoram and basil sauce. Season to taste with salt and cook over a gentle flame. Stir with a wooden spoon only few minutes later; in this way anchovy fillets melt in oil. Stir with delicacy for not breaking into pieces all the vegetables.
Meanwhile cook trofie in a large kettle of boiling salted water according to package directions until "al dente" stage. Pour them into the pan with the dressing and finish cooking pasta in the sauce.
Serve hot; if you want you can sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese but we calculated nutrition facts without Parmesan.