Ligurian salad

Name: Ligurian salad
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: New potatoes 1.8 lbs; Green beans 2 cups; Precooked chickpeas drained weight 1 ¼ cup; Taggiasca olives 2.8 oz; Basil to taste; Extra virgin olive oil to taste; Fine salt to taste; Basil 2 ½ cups; Extra virgin olive oil 6 tbsp; Pine nuts 1.5 oz; Garlic 1 clove; Nutritional yeast 2 tbsp; Fine salt to taste; Ice cube 1

Difficulty: Easy
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 40 min
Serving: 4
Cost: Average

PRESENTATION

Recipe by
Dispensa Vegana

Ligurian potato and green bean salad earns its place as a full meal through one deliberate swap: nutritional yeast standing in for cheese in the basil pesto. That single change makes the dressing entirely plant-based without sacrificing the creamy, fragrant quality that holds everything together. New potatoes and green beans form the base, bringing contrasting textures — one soft and yielding, the other with just enough snap — and the combination is fresh, nutritious, and genuinely satisfying rather than the kind of salad that leaves you reaching for something else an hour later.

Chickpeas and Taggiasca olives — small, mild olives from the Ligurian coast — join that base, and the pesto binds them into something substantial enough to serve as the whole meal. The vegan pesto is really the centerpiece here: it coats every ingredient and pulls the dish into a coherent whole rather than a loose assembly of parts. It also travels well. Make it ahead for a picnic, a beach lunch, a cold dinner pulled from the fridge, or a weekday office lunchbox — the flavors only settle further as it sits, making this one of the more practical summer dishes you can keep on hand.

INGREDIENTS

New potatoes 1.8 lbs (800 g)

Green beans 2 cups (250 g)

Precooked chickpeas 1 ¼ cup (200 g) - drained weight

Taggiasca olives 2.8 oz (80 g)

Basil to taste

Extra virgin olive oil to taste

Fine salt to taste

For the pesto: Basil 2 ½ cups (60 g); Extra virgin olive oil 6 tbsp (80 g); Pine nuts 1.5 oz (40 g); Garlic 1 clove; Nutritional yeast 2 tbsp (10 g); Fine salt to taste; Ice 1 - cube

Preparation

How to prepare Ligurian salad

To prepare the Ligurian salad, first boil the potatoes starting from cold water for at least 30–40 minutes 1, until they are tender. Meanwhile, trim the green beans 2 and cook them in salted boiling water for 10 minutes 3.

Meanwhile, prepare the pesto: put the basil in a container, then add the oil 4, the pine nuts 5 and the nutritional yeast 6.

Also add the garlic 7, the salt and an ice cube 8. Blend with an immersion blender until you obtain a creamy, smooth consistency 9.

Once cooked, drain the potatoes and let them cool slightly, then peel them and cut them into cubes 10. Transfer the potato cubes to a large bowl, then add the drained green beans 11 and the precooked chickpeas 12.

Also add the Taggiasca olives 13 and the pesto 14. Dress with oil 15, salt and pepper.

Gently mix to combine everything 16. Plate and garnish with a few basil leaves 17. Your Ligurian salad is ready to be served 18!

Storage

The Ligurian salad can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 days.

The pesto can be used immediately or stored in the fridge in a jar well covered with oil for 4 days. Alternatively, you can freeze the pesto in small jars.