Heat is on, every day, unrelenting; I had been watering that basil bush hoping it would not succumb to the 100F plus temperatures; luckily it doubled in size in a few weeks and here is the result.
A pasta salad coated with fresh basil pesto and garnished with a handful of green beans and some black niçoise olives.
INGREDIENTS: 4 servings
- 6 ounces of penne pasta
- 1 cup of small black olives
- 2 cups of green beans
- 1 cup of fresh basil leaves, packed
- 4 and up to 6 cloves of garlic, chopped and mashed in a mortar with a dash of salt
- 1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan
- Olive oil, as needed
METHOD:
- Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling salted water; drain and sprinkle a tablespoon of olive oil on the pasta and toss.
- Place the basil and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and run the machine while pouring several tablespoons of olive oil. Add about 1/4 cup of parmesan and transfer the pesto into the pasta bowl and toss.
- Cut the green beans into one inch pieces and cook or steam till tender; add to the bowl of pasta. Grind a bit of black pepper, add some olives, extra parmesan and serve.
21 Comments
Such a beautiful salad, and definitely the perfect meal for a hot summer day! The flavor of basil is so refreshing!
Basil pesto is one of my favorite sauces. I don’t think I’ve made it without bit of crushed nuts added to it. I’ve got to try this one. I bet the basil flavor is more intense this way, which to me sounds even more exciting!
A refined pasta salad! Tasty.
Cheers,
Rosa
Adding beans sound like a good idea. I’ll give it a try.
A fantastic salad for these days of summer.I think is quick and delicius.
Flavourful and filling salad..
Your photos look just great and I am definitely intrigued! Loved your collection of recipes and everything about this blog. Do visit my curry blog and please feel free to comment on my Indian (Asian) recipes.
Beautiful colors and wonderfully fresh looking.
Marvelously simple summer salad! I do like your using green beans…never have done that in a pasta salad.
Rule of thumb for pasta salad: the simpler, the better. And this one looks perfect! Cheers!
Sounds like a perfect summer meal!
Just my kind of pasta dish – especially in this weather.
Nice contrast of basil and black olives – hopefully your basil plant hasn’t wilted from all the heat.
My mouth is watering, as usual. You’ve inspired me to finally get around to planting some basil! Joumana, I was wondering if you might be persuaded to share a recipe for your version of toum (garlic paste) some time. I’ve found a few, but something tells me yours would be amazing. If you’re so inclined, of course. Thanks either way!
I love pasta and pesto together — a great lunch I wish I could eat right now!
This kind of pasta salad is one of my go-to for summer .. light and flavorful!
Lovely pasta dish…I like the add of black olives and green beans
Hope you are having a great week…
the color of the pasta salad is so fresh!
Joumana- fantastic- many congrats on your daytime tv feature- i just saw it on your blog. you are a natural- so elegant. x shayma
That is one nice looking pasta salad.
LL
Super salade à l’italienne…..
One Trackback
[...] in my head will translate to the plate, I do a search of foodgawker. Happily, someone else had made pesto with green beans. She also used black olives. I had kalamata olives, so I threw those in. It was good except for the [...]