Tomato Tomatoe

spring pea pasta

I first saw this recipe on Wishbone Kitchen’s Instagram and was intrigued by the gorgeous vibrant green colour of this pasta. It’s quite easy to make and uses a few simple ingredients. I slightly altered her recipe and added a sauteed leek and some garlic since I had a leek sitting in my fridge that needed to be used immediately! I didn’t have as much pesto as the recipe required so I made due with what I had and it still turned out well!

The crispy prosciutto is a key component to this dish but coming from an Italian family, part of me cringed when I placed the sheet pan with the prosciutto in the oven. In Italy, crisping or cooking prosciutto is considered sacrilegious and I could feel my grandparents looking down at me shaking their heads in disbelief. I do love Meredith’s recipes and I was going to look past this one thing and see if it really did make a difference in the recipe. After spending almost $30 CDN on 20 slices of prosciutto (which I know this is crazy and that’s a story for another day), I really wish that I had used something like guanciale or pancetta instead of the prosciutto. In my opinion this pasta would work fantastic with either guanciale or pancetta. It will add the same crisp factor to the pasta as the prosciutto does. Save the good quality prosciutto for a sandwich or to eat with some melon.

Overall I did really enjoy this pasta. It utilizes fresh Spring peas and the salty component from the prosciutto worked quite well in balancing out the sweetness from the peas. I’m not sure if she added lemon zest in her recipe but the addition of the lemon zest added a bright citrus note that cut through the richness of the sauce. I would make this again but may alter some ingredients. I’m curious to see how it would be with guanciale or pancetta. Stay tuned!

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spring pea pasta

Ingredients

• 1 box of spaghetti
• 4 slices of prosciutto
• 2 cups spinach
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 4 tbsp homemade pesto
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 leek, sliced
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup partigiano Reggiano
• zest of 1 lemon

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Place prosciutto on a wire rack and bake for 10 minutes or until crisp.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the spinach and peas separately for about 30 seconds. Add spinach and peas to an ice bath. Remove from ice bath and set aside.
3. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes less than what the package says. While the pasta cooks, remove 1 cup of pasta water and set aside.
4. Heat a pan to medium heat and add a few drizzles of olive oil and a tbsp of butter. Once the butter is bubbly, add the leeks and sauté for a few minutes until they become translucent. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Squeeze out the liquid from the spinach and add to a blender along with the peas and leeks and garlic. Add a splash of pasta water and blend until smooth. Add more pasta water as needed if the mixture is too thick and won’t blend.
6. Add the pea puree back to the pan the leeks were cooking in and add the drained pasta. Toss the pasta in the sauce and add butter. Add some pasta water if needed.
7. Plate the pasta and grate fresh lemon zest, parmigiano, and crispy prosciutto.