Pesto Lasagna with Potatoes and Green Beans — the family recipe fragrant with basil. A dish that brings everyone to the table — absolutely delicious. This is the lasagna recipe you must try!
There is a scent that, more than any other, smells like home, Sunday family gatherings and deep roots: it’s the aroma of fresh basil.
Today my terrace is an explosion of green and, looking at those pots so full and lush, I couldn’t resist. I felt the call of my origins, from La Spezia, and decided to prepare a dish that for me is pure poetry: Pesto Lasagna with potatoes and green beans.
This is not the usual lasagna. It’s a more delicate version, incredibly fragrant and creamy. The secret? A very fresh pesto, made the way my mother taught me. Although today I set aside the mortar for a more practical mixer (using the trick of freezing the blades so as not to “burn” the leaves!), the taste remained as before.
The heart of the dish is the union between a slightly loose homemade béchamel and freshly made pesto: a velvety mix that wraps tender potatoes and crisp green beans. It’s a tribute to my land and to simple cooking, made with ingredients from the garden (or a pot!) and lots of love.
Every layer is a little masterpiece of flavor. Perfectly baked in the oven, but you can also get excellent and even quicker results using the air fryer (adjusting times and temperature according to your model).
Put on your apron and come to the kitchen with me: I’ll show you how to transform a bunch of basil into the creamiest lasagna you’ve ever tasted!
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Cooking time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 4 People
- Cooking methods: Electric oven, Air fryer
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
Pesto Lasagna with Potatoes and Green Beans — Family recipe fragrant with basil
- 60 about 2 cups packed basil leaves (only the leaves, washed and well dried)
- 100 about 6 2/3 tbsp (≈3.4 fl oz) extra virgin olive oil
- 60 about 2 oz (≈2/3 cup) Parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano) (aged 24 months)
- 20 about 3/4 oz (≈2 tbsp) Pecorino Sardo
- 15 about 2 tbsp pine nuts
- 1 clove garlic (with the inner core removed)
- 1 pinch coarse salt
- 600 about 2 1/2 cups (≈20 fl oz) milk
- 60 4 tbsp butter
- 60 1/2 cup flour
- to taste salt
- nutmeg
- 250 about 9 oz (250 g) lasagna sheets
- 2 potatoes (2 medium (about 7 oz / 200 g total))
- 150 about 5.3 oz (≈1 1/4 cups) green beans (fresh or frozen)
- to taste Parmesan (to sprinkle between the layers)
- 1 tbsp butter (for the baking dish)
Tools
- Air fryers
- Baking dish
- Saucepan
- Pot
- Blender
Steps
Pesto Lasagna with Potatoes and Green Beans — Family recipe fragrant with basil
Start with the fresh vegetables.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes, then trim the green beans, wash them and cut them into pieces.
Boil the vegetables in lightly salted water for only 5 minutes.
They should remain firm.
Once ready, drain them and set aside (you can run them under cold water to fix the green color, as I do!).
For pesto lasagna, the béchamel should be slightly looser than usual, so it doesn’t dry out too much in the oven and keeps the dish very creamy.
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. As soon as it’s melted, add the flour all at once.
Whisk vigorously for about 2 minutes. You will get a golden, frothy mixture. It’s important to cook the flour well so the béchamel doesn’t taste “raw”.
Pour the milk in a thin stream, very slowly at first, continuing to whisk to dissolve the butter-flour mixture and avoid lumps.
Continue cooking over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the cream begins to boil and thicken. For this recipe, turn off the heat as soon as it “coats” the spoon (it should not become a solid block).
Add a pinch of salt and a grating of nutmeg.
While the béchamel cools, prepare the pesto.
Before starting, put the mixer blades and container in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.The heat produced by fast-spinning blades is basil’s number one enemy: it oxidizes it and makes it dark and bitter. With cold, it will stay emerald green.
Place the garlic clove (with the inner core removed if you want it easier to digest), the pine nuts and a pinch of coarse salt into the mixer.Pulse for a few seconds until you get a coarse paste.
Add the basil leaves, well washed and above all gently dried (residual water doesn’t get along with oil).
Add half of the EVO oil and start pulsing in short bursts (don’t hold the button down! Do frrr-stop, frrr-stop). This prevents heating the leaves.
Add the grated cheese, the Pecorino Sardo and the rest of the oil. Give a final quick pulse just to combine everything.
Your pesto is ready when it’s creamy but you can still see tiny pieces of leaf.Now it’s ready to be folded into the warm béchamel!
Mix well.
Now that we have all the elements ready on the work surface we can assemble the baking dish.
Take an oven dish and brush the bottom with a drizzle of EVO oil or a thin layer of butter.
Add a generous spoonful of the pesto cream and spread it well: it will prevent the pasta from sticking and keep it soft.
Place the lasagna sheets to cover the bottom. Don’t overlap them too much to ensure even cooking.
Evenly distribute a few spoonfuls of béchamel with pesto.
On top of the cream, scatter a handful of chopped green beans and some potato cubes.
Sprinkle with plenty of grated cheese.This will create the bond between ingredients and add savory flavor.
Continue like this, layer after layer (pasta, cream, vegetables, cheese), until the ingredients are used up. With these quantities, you’ll usually get 4 or 5 spectacular layers.
“The last layer must be the prettiest, just like the one in my photo”!Cover the pasta well with the remaining cream, add the final potatoes and green beans and finish with a generous shower of grated cheese.
If you want an extra crunchy touch, add a few whole pine nuts on top.
In the Oven (Traditional method) Bake the dish in a preheated static oven at 356°F for about 20-25 minutes.
My tip is to set the Grill function for the last 5 minutes: you’ll see the Parmesan turn into that golden, crunchy crust everyone loves!
In the Air Fryer If you prefer, set the temperature to 320°F and cook for about 15-18 minutes. Here too, for a perfect finish, raise the temperature to 374°F for the last 3 minutes to nicely brown the surface.Every oven and air fryer has its own timings so keep an eye on it.
Once out of the oven, resist the temptation: let the lasagna rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing.
This is a crucial step because it allows the béchamel and pesto to settle.
That way the slice will stay nice and compact and perfect, without sliding all the sauce off the plate.
Enjoy your meal.
Tips
If you prepare the lasagna in advance to bake a few hours later, make the béchamel even more liquid. Over time the pasta tends to absorb moisture and you risk it becoming too dry in the oven.
For a gourmet touch, add a handful of toasted pine nuts between layers, in addition to those already in the pesto. They will give a toasted note and a delightful crunchy texture.
Remember not to overdo the salt in the pesto, because these ingredients already have a strong character!
Storage
Pesto lasagna is even better the next day! You can store it in the fridge for 2 days or freeze it (if you used fresh ingredients).
When reheating, add a splash of milk to bring it back to creaminess.
FAQ (Questions & Answers)
Substitutions
You can make a 100% plant-based version using a soy or rice béchamel (made with oil instead of butter) and a cheese-free pesto (slightly increase the amount of pine nuts and cashews for creaminess).
If you want to change color and flavor, try the same layering but using sun-dried tomato pesto. It pairs wonderfully with both potatoes and green beans, giving a more intense Mediterranean flavor.
Want to impress guests? Add between layers some quickly sautéed shrimp with a pinch of lemon zest. The lemon cuts through the richness of the béchamel and pairs perfectly with basil.Gluten Free?
Nowadays you can easily find excellent gluten-free lasagna sheets (or you can make them at home with rice and corn flour). For the béchamel, replace wheat flour with corn starch (maize starch) for an even lighter and silkier result.
