Asparagus-Spring Pea Pasta

potions's Note:

Asparagus is great with pasta. After the first review, I have updated the recipe to include some garlic, which I agree improves the flavor of this dish!

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1 lb asparagus, trimmed and halved crosswise
• 1/4 lb snow peas
• 1/4 lb sugar snap pea
• 1 (12 ounce) package dried cellentani pasta
• 5 ounces fresh green peas or 5 ounces frozen green peas, thawed if frozen
• 1/4 cup fresh parmigiano-reggiano cheese, finely grated
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest, finely grated
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (to taste)
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced (or to taste)
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 ounces prosciutto or 2 ounces ham, torn into pieces
• 1/4 cup fresh chives, chopped
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• salt, to taste
• pepper (optional)

Directions:

1. Bring large pot of water to a boil; add salt.
2. Add asparagus and cook until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes.
3. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice and cold water.
4. Bring water in pot back to a boil; add snow peas and cook just until tender, about 1 minute.
5. Transfer with slotted spoon to bowl of ice and cold water.
6. Repeat with sugar snap peas; reserve cooking liquid in pot.
7. When vegetables are cool, drain in a colander, set aside.
8. Bring cooking liquid in pot back to a boil; stir in pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes.
9. Reserve 1 cup cooking liquid, then drain pasta.
10. Diagonally cut asparagus into 1/4-inch thick slices.
11. Transfer half of asparagus to a food processor.
12. Diagonally cut half of the snow peas and sugar snap peas in half; add cut snow and sugar snap peas to food processor with half of green peas.
13. Add 6 T reserved cooking liquid, the Parmigiano-Reggiano, zest, garlic, juice and oil; season with salt and pepper.
14. Process until smooth.
15. Combine with remaining vegetables in a saucepan; heat over low heat until warm, for sauce.
16. Transfer sauce, pasta and 1/4 cup cooking liquid to a large serving bowl; toss until coated well, adding additional cooking liquid, 2 T at a time, if too thick.
17. Salt and pepper to taste.
18. Top each serving with prosciutto, chives and a dollop of ricotta.
19. Sprinkle with pepper, if desired.

Reviews

[I Cook Therefore I Am]

If I could only describe this recipe with one word it would be "green." Not only did it look green at actually TASTED green, which is good if you're me cuz I love green veggies. Since I get more than one word though, I will add that this, to me, was almost like a pea pesto. The one thing that I think could have made this dish OUTSTANDING is some garlic in the "pesto" part of the recipe. My DH and I really liked it, but we just felt like it had a tiny something missing. Other than that an excellent dish for veggie lovers.