Pasta, pesto and green bean recipe: vegetarian main course

If you are looking for a quick vegetarian meal, this pasta and bean dish is very tasty, and only takes around 20 minutes to prepare. It has a great mixture of textures and flavours, with soft pasta, sweet and crispy shallots, squeaky green beans and the subtle flavour of green pesto. The following recipe serves two people.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz (250 g) pasta twists
• 2 to 3 shallots
• 4 oz (125 g) fresh French (or green) beans
• 1/2 jar of green pesto sauce
• A little olive oil
• Parmesan or grated cheese of your choice

Method

• Top and tail the green beans and slice into pieces about 2 inches long. Cook in boiling water for up to 10 minutes or until just cooked. Soggy beans are not so good in this recipe, it's nice if they still have a little "bite".
• Cook the pasta in boiling water - pasta twists are fairly quick, usually about 8 to 10 mins until soft
• Chop the shallots quite finely and fry in the olive oil until crispy and brown
• Drain the pasta and beans well, and mix in the pesto sauce, then the fried shallots
• Serve and sprinkle with cheese - fresh Parmesan is best if you can get it, but cheddar or any other tasty hard cheese will do.

This is one of my favourite quick suppers, and I think it goes down rather well with a nice light Italian red wine such as Valpolicella or Chianti. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!