Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Pasta e Piselli

Pasta with Peas

This is going to be a really quick post. This is easy to make and fast. I always serve this dish with a spoon, it's not quite a soup, and it just feels better to eat it up with a spoon and get all the great juices spooned into your mouth at the same time.
I would say that the most important part of this dish is using fresh peas!  If fresh peas are not available  use a bag of frozen peas. These were fresh shelled English  Peas and they were delicious. They were tender and had such a sweet flavor that burst in your mouth when you bit into them.  Need I say more....let's start cooking!
Saute some pancetta, prosciutto,or some smokey ham in a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and render the fat. It'll start to sizzle and the ham will turn in color.
Add one medium chopped onion, and a few cloves of fresh smashed, chopped garlic. let it all cook until tender
these are the pretty little fresh peas before they were added, yum , right?
Add the peas to the pot and cook the peas with about one cup of stock. I used chicken stock.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Don't over cook the peas. I think this cooked for a total of 10 minutes once the peas were added. They were tender, but still had a nice bite to them.
I cooked some small shell shaped pasta. I reserved some of the cooking liquid just in case I needed it ( I didn't this time)
I added the cooked pasta to the peas and served it in a bowl, and we all used a spoon to eat it up ! It was topped with some freshly grated parmesan cheese, and for those of us who like a little spice, some red pepper seeds! Make a green salad and serve this with a loaf of fresh bread. No one will leave your table hungry, and there won't be one pea left in the dish!

Buon Appetito
xoxoxo
Lorraine

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