Green beans are in season here right now, which means they are both cheap and at their peak flavor. The local season lasts only a few weeks, with most of the harvest ending up frozen, jarred, or canned. Blanching and freezing causes them to lose their crisp texture, and canning renders them practically inedible if you ask me. For the rest of the year, the best alternative is imported fresh green beans, often from faraway places like Morocco. (By the way, the energy required to blanch or steam green beans vastly overshadows any concerns about the carbon footprint of transport from Morocco.) These imported beans retain the right texture, but because they have been in transit for so long, their flavor is merely a faint echo of fresh ones. That is why we must enjoy them to the max while they are in season locally.

The most famous pasta dish with green beans originates from Liguria, served with short (trofie) or long (trenette) pasta, chunks of boiled potato, and pesto alla genovese. While delicious thanks to the basil pesto, the runner-up from Puglia lets the flavor of the green beans shine even more. Pasta fagiolini e pomodorini—pasta with green beans, cherry tomatoes, basil, and grated sheep’s cheese—is an elegant dish that is easy to prepare and tastes like pure summer. Caciocavallo is the local cheese used in Puglia, but since it is nearly impossible to find here, ricotta salata from Sicily makes a fantastic substitute. Pecorino Romano would work well, too. If you are quick at trimming green beans, this is one of those pasta dishes that takes no longer than the time required to boil the pasta. You get wonderful flavor for very little effort, and it is very healthy to boot.

When it comes to the pasta shape, I have seen this prepared with both long pasta like bucatini or linguine, and short pasta like orecchiette or penne. Although orecchiette are obviously the most Puglian choice here, I always feel that the shape of the pasta should mimic the structure of the sauce as closely as possible. That way, the pasta and the sauce blend best. Since penne are roughly the same size and shape as green beans cut in half, that is what I prefer.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 400 grams penne pasta
• 400 grams green beans (weight after trimming, about 450 grams gross weight)
• 400 grams cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 garlic cloves, thickly sliced
• 10 grams fresh basil leaves, sliced
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 60 grams freshly grated ricotta salata or caciocavallo cheese, plus more for garnish

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. In the meantime, trim the green beans and cut them to roughly the size of the penne. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. When the water boils, add salt and the pasta, then set a timer for the cooking time indicated on the package minus 7 minutes. For example, if the pasta needs 11 minutes, set the timer for 4 minutes.

Add the green beans when the timer goes off, and set it for another 7 minutes. You can, of course, adjust the cooking time for the green beans if you prefer them firmer or softer.

After adding the green beans, heat 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a large frying pan and add 2 thickly sliced garlic cloves.

After adding the green beans, heat 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a large frying pan and add 2 thickly sliced garlic cloves. As soon as the garlic starts to sizzle, remove the pan from the heat and tilt it to deep-fry the garlic in the oil until it starts to turn lightly golden. This infuses the oil with garlic aroma.

Return the pan to medium-high heat, add the halved cherry tomatoes, and season with salt. Stir the tomatoes until they soften slightly; they should still hold their shape when the pasta and beans are ready. Remove and discard the garlic cloves just before adding the pasta and beans to the pan.

Drain the pasta and beans, reserving some of the cooking water. Add the beans and pasta directly to the frying pan.

Add 60 grams of freshly grated ricotta salata and most of the basil.

Gently toss to combine, adding a splash of the reserved pasta water if the dish looks too dry.

Serve immediately on preheated plates, drizzled with your best extra virgin olive oil and finished with freshly ground black pepper and a bit more freshly grated cheese.