Pasta With Green Beans and Almond Gremolata

By Colu Henry

Total Time: 30 minutes
Rating: 5(1,252)
Notes: Read community notes

Celery, an underappreciated vegetable relegated to making stocks and mirepoix, rarely gets the attention it deserves. It’s available in the grocery store year-round. Come late summer, it starts popping up in farmers' markets everywhere, and it deserves to shine. In this dish, its pleasantly bitter leaves are used in a unique take on gremolata, a fresh herb condiment traditionally made with Italian parsley (which you can also use here). Snappy green beans, also readily available in late summer, round out this unassuming, but impressive pasta you’ll want to make again and again no matter what the season.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 to 6 servings

For the Gremolata

¼cup sliced almonds
Scant ⅓ cup finely chopped celery leaves or parsley leaves
1tablespoon lemon zest (from 1 medium lemon), plus more for serving
1garlic clove, grated
Kosher salt

For the Pasta

1pound gemelli, campanelle or cavatappi
¾pound string beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
2tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling
2garlic cloves, thinly sliced
½teaspoon red-pepper flakes
4tablespoons unsalted butter
¼cup grated Pecorino or Parmesan, plus more for serving
Kosher salt, to taste

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Bring a large pot of well-salted water (2 heaping tablespoons kosher salt to about 7 quarts water) to a boil. Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-low heat, toast the almonds, stirring frequently so they don’t burn, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat. In a medium bowl, combine the almonds, celery or parsley leaves, lemon zest, garlic and a pinch of salt. Set aside and wipe out skillet.
Step 2
Add pasta to boiling water and cook until it is al dente, according to package directions. About 2 minutes before it’s done, add the beans to the pasta pot. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, and drain the pasta and beans.
Step 3
While the pasta and beans drain, make the sauce: Heat the olive oil in the large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and red-pepper flakes and cook until the garlic is golden in color, about 1 to 2 minutes. Turn heat to low and add ½ cup of the reserved pasta water to the skillet (be careful of splattering) and cook until it is reduced by about half, 1 to 2 minutes more. Turn heat to medium and add the pasta, green beans and butter to the skillet and toss until the butter melts. Add the cheese and an additional ¼ cup water and toss until the cheese is emulsified and the pasta is glossy with sauce. If needed, add an additional ¼ cup pasta water to loosen. Season with kosher salt, to taste.
Step 4
Transfer the pasta to a large bowl, top with gremolata and drizzle with more olive oil. Pass additional grated cheese at the table, if desired.

Ratings

5 out of 5

1,252 user ratings

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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

DerekP5 years ago

This is genius, really. Don't make substitutions until you've tried it once as written, and don't bother if you don't have celery leaves. They are the lynchpin of the dish, and flat leaf parsley is just not a worthy replacement.

Bob L5 years ago

I’ve been using salty, pungent preserved minced lemon rind in my gremolata and it’s been glorious.

Barbara5 years ago

Some of us want to hear every conceivable thought about alterations. Cooking is so much fun when you can ad lib! I have one DIL who wants recipe guidance; she’s my conscience. I have another who likes to go rogue (I think, at least), which is more in keeping with my own approach. Big Tent! There’s room for all of this!

Gerri C5 years ago

You basically made your own recipe and not the one we are commenting on. People want to know how the recipe turned out - not what you did to it.

meinmunich5 years ago

Was one of the best pasta dish I had ever produced. Simply amazing! Roasted some cherry tomatoes to add on the side and used the oven to roast the almond slices, which was easier. Can't wait to make it again. A meat loving Italian friend can't shut up about how great it was.

Sophie Harrington5 years ago

A really elegant delicious dish. I used less pasta than in the recipe and also I used parsley instead of celery. Next time I will make more gremolata with a touch more lemon as the gremolata really lifts the dish to sublime. We paired it with the Marines miso salmon. Lovely.

Mimilinda5 years ago

Make the gremolata first. Loads of celery leaves incl. the tender stalks in the middle chopped very fine. Very young garlic, used the stalk only so the garlic taste doesn’t overpower the rest. 100g of almonds. Less pasta water (to keep the pasta al dente) and half the butter. The beans have to be boiled with the pasta, not fried! More cheese, 2/3 of it was fontina, the rest parmesan. Use the best olive oil you can get your hands on! Delicious!!!

Angela Cloud5 years ago

Really delicious! Used only 1/2 lb pasta, used all celery leaves, added 12 oz of shrimp before adding the pasta to the skillet and also added a little white wine to the sauce and let it cook down. Also used asiago instead of parm and couldn't help but to grind some black pepper in at the end.

Anne5 years ago

We really were disappointed after reading the reviews. We thought this was incredibly bland. Even added roasted tomatoes...

dennis5 years ago

Loved this, made per recipe except halved the amount of pasta which gave it extra zip.I think it would have been a little bland otherwise. Will definitely try using preserved lemon next time, as one reviewer suggested.

Michele Hill5 years ago

Wow. Celery leaves that normally end up in the compost elevate this dish to gourmet status. Who'd have thought? I added more green beans, just to up the nutrition. Will make for my next dinner party.

Randy5 years ago

Finally someone is highlighting a total sleeper herb, celery leaves! Been making this for years. One of my favorite summer pastas. I like to vary the amount of garlic in the pasta-and subbing elephant garlic is a totally different take.

Mickey5 years ago

Stir-fried green beans with hot peppers. from the garden. extra garlic. spinach as well as parsley and green onions. lots of asiago. chopped greens, garlic, and almonds in food processor. combined everything in the wok with the green beans (pasta and gremolata). added lemon juice from the zested lemon near the end. Excellent and quick.

RobP 5 years ago

I’ve just cooked this dish with sine garden fresh green beans. Fantastic recipe ! Delicious! Used parsley instead of celery and it was great ! This is a keeper !

perfect5 years ago

Great recipe just as written. Everyone loved it. Clean, tasty and simple to make.

Ellen1 month ago

After making the recipe as is, this was too bland for my taste so added a couple of tablespoons store bought pesto and it was delicious.

sam1 month ago

Double the cheese

Jimmy2 months ago

I made this with Farro (cooked in veg stock) instead of pasta - saute'ing the green beans in the skillet with olive oil and butter, and more garlic - was an excellent risotto like dish

Elizabeth2 months ago

I halved the pasta but included all other ingredients per the quantities in the recipe - a full pound of pasta would have been way too much. Have used celery and parsley leaves and enjoy both.

Elisa3 months ago

Made as is and it was totally bland, zero flavor. Added salt and a squeeze of lemon and that helped, but wouldn’t make again

Mary Ann4 months ago

As some in our family are vegans, while others are vegetarian, we make this with vegan butter and don't add in the parmesan while cooking. At the table we offer dairy parmesan and vegan "feta" or "parmesan" to sprinkle on with the gremolata, thus keeping everyone's needs satisfied and still achieving a truly delicious meal. It's a favorite in our house!

Kate4 months ago

I didn't have any pasta and subbed pearl barley instead (I do plan to make as written what a lovely dish). Wonderful!

fn10 months ago

Made half a recipe and liked it very much, however I felt the garlic was ahead of lemon in flavor. Next time I’ll adjust for more lemon.

MLB11 months ago

Loved the dish. I was confused by the 1 lb of pasta (16 oz) box. Cooked it all and seemed enormous for 4-6 servings so only used half in dish and seemed correct. Did I miss understand receipt?

DKH11 months ago

For three generous servings I halved the pasta, beans and sauce, and doubled the gremolata (because that's how my family rolls). Used preserved lemons and Asiago as some suggested. Amazing!

TK11 months ago

Absolutely majestic!

Lynn from NJ11 months ago

Too much pasta, not enough green beans, too little flavor. I cooked it exactly as the recipe said. I was looking forward to this, but I was disappointed. All I can say is that it's edible and you can "fix" it with prepared sauce or the puttanesca garbanzo bean salad.

brdewitt11 months ago

This was great! Used half the pasta and cashews ( my husband doesn’t like almonds) and extra lemon. A real keeper of a recipe!

amelia11 months ago

Insanely delicious. I agree with all the other reviewers - the celery leaves are an absolute must. Never again will I relegate those bitter innards to the compost bin, in this recipe they are glorious. Next time I will double the gremolata, since you can never have to much of a good thing.

Karen L Davis11 months ago

Yum! Used half the amount of pasta, as usual, and full amounts of all other ingredients. Great way to use green beans when they're fresh. Following others' comments, focused on using the small center stems and leaves from a larger celery bunch and no parsley in the gremolata. Great! (Did you know that celery is a parsley relative?) Used a bit less water in the sauce. Not sure how this dish would be bland with the red pepper flakes included.

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