Quick Pea and Basil Green Pasta Sauce
Servings: 2 people
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 3 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 2 cups frozen peas
- 1 cup fresh herbs see notes
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon flakey sea salt or kosher salt
- ⅓ cup water see notes
- Pasta of your choice 200 grams dried or 300 grams fresh
Instructions
- Drop the peas into a pot of boiling water for three minutes, reserve a ⅓ cup of the water before draining then run some cold water over them in the sieve or colander to stop them overcooking.
- Gently fry the garlic in 1 tablespoon of olive oil over a medium - low heat for 2 - 3 minutes. Don't let it brown.
- Blitz the peas, water, herbs, lemon juice, salt and garlic together until smooth. I use a smoothie maker but you could use a stick blender or regular blender.
- An optional step (but recommended!) is to pass the mixture through a sieve with a spatula (see photos and video) to make it smoother.
- Mix in the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil to finished sauce.
- Cook your pasta in a pot of well salted water according to package instructions. Reserve a cup of the pasta water before draining.
- Gently warm the sauce in a large skillet over a medium - low heat. You don't want it to be bubbling too much.
- Add your cooked pasta straight in with a splash of pasta water and toss.
- Let it very gently bubble for 30 secs - 1 minute then serve straight away with lots of freshly grated parmesan (or a vegan option), a drizzle of olive oil and some fresh herbs if you desire.
Video
Notes
Fresh herbs - I like using all basil or a combination of basil and mint. You could also use Italian parsley.
Water - I like to reserve the ⅓ cup of water from the pea cooking liquid to puree with the peas but if you forget to do that just use ⅓ cup of regular water from the tap.
Portion size - I have made this as a two person sauce. It is quite saucy so if you cook more pasta you could probably stretch it to three. I like lots of sauce, it's great for dunking bread in!