Potato and Green Bean Pesto Salad

I feel like I’m counting down until my herb garden is gone along with all of the super fresh produce from our local farms. It feels like an end but really these ingredients are available all year long. Maybe it’s because the first day of autumn is in three days. Who knows my crazy logic (assuming I have any!) but this salad is delicious.

Serves 4 to 6

680 g (1.5 lb) yellow fleshed potatoes, scrubbed and cut into large chunks

454 g (1 lb) green beans, trimmed and cut into one-inch pieces

2 tbsp pesto

1 tbsp water

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (optional)

Coarse salt

Pepper

Place the potatoes in a pot with a tight-fitting lid and cover them with water.

Bring the pot to a boil and then drop the heat to medium, simmer the potatoes, covered for 13-15 minutes or until they are almost fork tender.

Turn the heat to high and bring the pot back to a boil and then add in the beans, again cover with the lid; season with some salt.

Simmer the potatoes and beans for 4-5 minutes, until the beans are to your desired doneness.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together the pesto sauce and water, mix well and set aside.

Strain the veggies and drop them into the pesto mixture; mix well to completely coat the veggies.

Season with the coarse salt and pepper.

At this point you can serve the dish right away or you can allow it to rest and serve it at room temperature. If you let the dish sit the potatoes will absorb more of the yummy pesto sauce but this will mean your sauce dries out so if that happens then drizzle the olive oil over the veggies before you season them with the salt and pepper and everything will come back to life!

Notes:

By thinning out the pesto with the water you’re still getting all of the delicious pesto flavour with less fat and calories!
I went with yellow-fleshed potatoes because it’s what I had on hand but feel free to use any potatoes of your choosing!