In one of her early books, Ina Garten of the Barefoot Contessa fame, has a recipe for pasta with pesto and peas. Now don’t get me wrong: I love Ina as much as the next girl. To this day, I am holding out for an invitation to spend the day cooking with her in the Hamptons.
But her recipe for pasta with pesto and peas is all kinds of wrong. First, she includes spinach in the pesto in order to make it appear greener. A trick that works I imagine, but it seems a little extreme to adulterate your pesto for the sake of the color. Second, the final product includes mayo. If you have ever read anything I have written, you know that my husband loathes mayo. So that is a nonstarter in my house.
I spend much of the summer making pesto.
But I love the idea of a pasta con pesto that includes peas. Something about that combination strikes me as very right. Which is why I have come up with my own spinach and mayo-free version.
The pesto in this recipe is quite traditional. The only ingredients are pine nuts, basil, garlic, olive oil and grated cheese. I lightly toast my pine nuts because I think doing so adds flavor and I like to use a combination of grated Parmesan and Pecorino Romano. But if you only have Parmesan on hand, as most people do, that is perfectly fine. And you will notice from the pictures that once exposed to air, the pesto darkens and loses its vibrant green color. Let’s just decide to get over that, shall we?
I make pesto constantly in the summer because basil is fresh and abundant. Sometimes too abundant! Whether you grow your own — it’s easy to do, I’m told — or buy bunches at the farmers market, in-season, local basil is so much tastier than the anemic, overpriced herbs you find in the supermarket during the winter. And when you are making a sauce, like pesto, with so few ingredients, the better those ingredients are, the better the final product will be.
Right now, it is possible to find fresh basil and fresh peas at the farmers market. So it is the perfect moment to make this alliterative pasta dish. But if you have missed the season for shelling peas, frozen are an acceptable substitute.
Penne with pesto and peas is an easy and healthy vegetarian dinner for those busy summer nights. Or, serve it as a side dish to some simple grilled salmon or chicken. Because my version has none of that evil, horrible mayonnaise — you know I actually like mayonnaise, right? — it is also a perfect dish to bring to a summer picnic or backyard cookout. No worries about food poisoning.
So if your basil plants are overflowing or you cannot resist the inexpensive herbs at the farmers’ market, try my take on pasta with pesto and peas. I just hope that Ina won’t mind. I am still waiting for that invitation to the Hamptons.
- 1 16-oz box penne (I like de Cecco brand)
- 3 oz fresh basil
- 5 TB pine nuts, lightly toasted in a dry skillet
- 3 cloves garlic
- 3 oz olive oil
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan or combination of Parmesan and Pecorino Romano
- 1½ cups peas, blanched if fresh or thawed if frozen
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- While the water is coming to a boil, combine basil, ¼ cup of the pine nuts, garlic, half the olive oil and salt in a food processor.
- Pulse to combine, scraping down the sides as necessary.
- With the motor running, slowly pour in the remaining olive oil until mixture forms a smooth paste.
- Transfer pesto to a medium-sized bowl and stir in the grated cheese.
- Cook the pasta according to the package direction and drain, reserving ½ cup of the pasta water.
- In a large bowl, combine the pasta and pesto, using the reserved pasta water to thin the sauce if necessary.
- Add the peas and remaining pine nuts and stir to combine.
- Serve with additional grated cheese.
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