Many-herb and fresh pea creamy pasta

Posted by Dana McMahan on April 21, 2008

Each weekend my husband and I plan our menu for the week and get as much of the grocery shopping done as we can. When I say “we” I mean “I.” As much as a love all things food, though, menu planning can become rather tedious. As I result I usually push Brian to choose at least one dish. This week he came across pasta with peas, cream, parsley, and mint on Epicurious.com at the same time I found pasta with green vegetables and herbs in a Gourmet issue from last spring.

We decided to marry the two and came up with this herb-loaded spring pasta. I used fresh green peas instead of the frozen the recipe called for because they had them at the produce store where I bought my herbs.

This made a delicious fresh spring dinner and it was fun to play hide and seek with the peas in the shells. I can’t wait to have leftovers!

Serves four.

12 ounces large shell pasta
1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
16 ounces fresh peas or 1 package frozen petite peas (do not thaw)
2 1/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
3 scallions
1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley, divided

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to pot.

Meanwhile, bring cream to simmer in large skillet over medium-high heat. Whisk in 2 1/4 cups cheese and stir well until melted and sauce thickens slightly, about 1 minute. Don't stop stirring or you'll have clumps.

Add peas and simmer just until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in mint, basil and 1/4 cup parsley.

Pour sauce over pasta and toss to coat, adding pasta cooking liquid by tablespoonfuls if dry.

Stir in scallions

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Transfer to bowl. Sprinkle with remaining parsley. Serve, passing additional Parmesan alongside.

TAGS: Pasta Mint Basil Peas
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Many-herb and fresh pea creamy pasta

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