Today, we are sharing our favourite pasta recipe for hot summer days - Pea Shoot Pasta with Pesto! The peas feature in this easy recipe in three different ways: we use a combination of peas, pea shoots and homemade pea shoot pesto, all wrapping around hot pasta, topped with parmesan cheese! Easy to make, inexpensive and overall scrumptious!
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Perfect Summer Pesto Pasta
Pasta is universally accepted as delicious, but it can often be associated with a colder season. If you are looking for an easy recipe for summer, consider making your pasta dish green!
Make a delicious Summer Pasta Salad with Courgettes, or our Green Pasta with English Peas and Spinach. What is your favorite recipe for hot summer days?
Ingredients and Substitutes
- pea shoots: or pea tendrils, roughly chopped.
- garlic clove: make sure to use fresh garlic rather than garlic powder.
- pine nuts: lightly toasted in a dry pan and cooled. They can be replaced with pecans, pistachios or walnuts.
- parmesan cheese: can be substituted with Pecorino Romano or Grana Padano.
- lemon: both zest and juice.
- olive oil: extra virgin.
- salt.
- pasta: long types of pasta work best. Use spaghetti or linguine.
- garden peas: fresh or thawed frozen garden peas.
- black pepper.
Want To Add More Veggies? Go for it! We love adding baby spinach, halved cherry tomatoes, snap peas or sauteed courgette cubes and oyster mushrooms.
Need More Protein? Shredded cooked chicken, ham hog or strips of salty prosciutto work beautifully!
What Are Pea Shoots? Are They The Same as Pea Tendrils?
Pea shoots are the young, tender stems and leaves of the pea plant. Pea tendrils are thin, curly vines that the pea plant uses to climb. Finally, pea sprouts are the early growth of the pea plant, including both shoots and tendrils. Pea greens can refer to any edible part of the pea plant, but often specifically mean the leaves. So, they're all parts of the pea plant but differ in their growth stage and appearance.
Where To Get Pea Shoots?
Whilst you can get pea shoots in larger supermarkets (look for them in M&S Food or Waitrose in the UK) and farmers market in early summer. they are incredibly easy to grow on your windowsill at home. This way you can have fresh pea shoots to cook with even in the cold months! Here's a guide on how to grow pea shoots at home!
Step-By-Step Method
Step 1: Make Pea Shoot Pesto
Place pea shoots (reserve a handful of the pea shoots for stirring into pasta later), garlic cloves, toasted pine nuts, parmesan, lemon zest and lemon juice and salt in a food processor bowl and blitz into a rough paste.
Add the olive oil and pulse until well combined. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if needed.
Head to our dedicated Pea Shoot Pesto Recipe to learn more. Alternatively, you can try this recipe with a traditional pesto, or our Walnut & Cheddar Pesto!
Step 2: Cook Pasta Al Dente
Cook pasta in a large pot of water following the package directions. Make sure it is al dente (retains a little bite). When the pasta is almost done (about 2 minutes away), add the peas and carry on cooking until the pasta is cooked.
Want to make fresh pasta? You are going to love it! Head to our Homemade Pasta Dough recipe!
Step 3: Veggies and Assembly
Drain the pasta and green peas, and combine them in the pan with pea shoot pesto. Serve with a generous amount of fresh ground pepper and extra parmesan cheese on top. Garnish with extra pea shoots and red pepper flakes if you wish.
What To Serve Pea Shoot Pasta With?
Serve this Pasta with Pea Shoots with a glass of dry white wine! A delicious way to make this pea shoot pasta into a complete meal is to add a couple of side dishes like Italian Green Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad, Courgette Ribbon Salad or some beautiful crusty bread to mop up leftover pesto at the bottom of your bowl. We love Sourdough Baguettes or Ciabatta for that!
More Pea Shoot Recipes To Try
What's your favourite pea shoot recipe? We cannot resist an easy Pea Shoot Stir Fry or an effortless Pea Shoot Salad With Edamame Beans for a side dish! But we also love adding pea shoots to our main courses, like Salmon Risotto and feature Pea Shoot Pesto in many of our recipes!
Pea Shoot Pasta With Pesto & Peas
Equipment
- Food Processor or Blender
Ingredients
- 150 g (0.66 lb) pea shoots roughly chopped, plus extra for garnish
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 40 g (⅓ cups) pine nuts lightly toasted
- 25 g (¼ cups) parmesan finely grated
- ½ lemon zest and juice
- 50 ml (4 tablespoon) extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 360 g (6.35 oz) pasta like spaghetti or linguine
- 180 g (1½ cups) garden peas thawed if frozen
- extra parmesan for garnish
Instructions
Make Pea Shoot Pesto:
- Add the chopped pea shoots, garlic, toasted pine nuts, parmesan, lemon zest and juice and salt in a food processor and blitz into a rough paste.
- Add the olive oil and pulse until well combined. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if needed.
Make Pasta:
- Cook pasta in a pot of salted boiling water following packet instructions. Make sure it is al dente (retains a little bite).
- When the pasta is almost cooked (about 2 minutes away) add the peas and carry on cooking until the pasta is done.
- Drain the pasta and peas, and combine them in the pan with pea shoot pesto. Serve with extra parmesan on top.
Nutrition
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