pea-sto pasta

You ever have one of those days where it seems like everyone in the house is sick, or has crazy busy schedules, and you haven't been to the grocery store in what seems like a month?  Welcome to the last month at our house.

Finally I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Liam is the only left with a light cough, Christmas chaos is far behind, and I finally have time to grocery shop.

In the meantime I can make pea-sto pasta.  I've been making it for ages, but I really appreciate it now.  Quick, hearty, comforting, with pretty healthy and sparse ingredients.  Yes please!

This is one of those recipes that I've been making for years, but somehow totally forgot about when it came to blogging. Its great.  The ingredient list is minimal, the pea-sto sauce can be made quickly in a blender while the pasta is cooking,

This is total comfort food.  Warm, creamy, filling, and you can get your veggies and protein all in one dish.  Bonus, the kids love it.  I'm pretty sure that the brighter color a food is, the more the kids will like it.

I like to use my baby bullet blender for this because it is the PERFECT size.  You can use any blender or food processor, I just don't want like to use one that's too big because I feel like I lose too much sauce even if I use a spatula to scoop out as much as I can.

You might wonder (or not) why I use garlic powder in this recipe instead of garlic cloves.  The real garlic would be very strong raw, and one of the best parts about this recipe is how quick it is to make.  I didn't want to spend so much extra time roasting or sauteing garlic.

I completely forgot to set out the pine nuts in the above photo, but not counting the pasta, this is all you need.  Really.

I like to use frozen peas because they taste the freshest.  Don't try to blend them still frozen.  Just don't.  Microwave them for about 2 minutes until warm,   Add the peas, pine nuts, parmesan, garlic, olive oil, pepper, and basil to the blender (food processor, etc.) and blend.  I like mine a bit chunky, but feel free to completely puree.

My favorite three things about this recipe are so random:

1. perfect if you're craving pesto, but are a bit short of basil and want to fill the sauce out a bit more.
2. you can always prep the sauce ahead of time and freeze or refrigerate it separately to have instantly.
3. the creamy sweet texture from the peas makes this dish feel so fatty and decadent without adding a million calories.

The pea-sto sauce can also be used as a good sauce over chicken, or you can bake and cut up a chicken breast and mix it in with this pasta.  I am SUCH a fan of a balanced (ish, at least) meal you can eat out of a bowl.  I love mixing things together!

Pea-sto pasta
2 large servings
total time: 15 minutes

ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups frozen peas, warmed
• 1 large handful basil
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 3/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 1/2 tbsp parmesan
• 2 tbsp pine nuts
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 4 oz. dry pasta

directions:

1. Boil a pot of water and add the pasta. Cook al dente.  Drain.  Set aside.
2. Start making the sauce as soon as you add the pasta to the pot.  Toss the rest of the ingredients (peas, basil, pepper, garlic, parmesan, pine nuts, and olive oil) into a small blender or food processor.  Stop when your sauce is a chunky or pureed as you prefer.  If you want to thin the sauce out a bit add a bit of water or olive oil (1/2 tbsp at a time).  Scoop out the sauce and add it to the drained pasta.  Enjoy!