Pasta with Spinach Pesto & Peas

Recently, I was in the mood for pasta. Particularly the flat and wide variety such as reginette. I found some at the store, so all I had to find next was a recipe for a tasty sauce. I was planning to serve this to my family for lunch, so plain old tomato sauce was not going to cut it, especially for Mariano.
I scanned my usual food blogs and food sites and I came across this recipe which seemed like the perfect way to sneak in some greens. Plus, I had never tasted pesto made out of spinach before so it was the perfect opportunity to taste something new.

I didn’t have all the ingredients at home, so I was quite liberal about substituting ingredients, and also adding some. In fact, I just used the recipe as an idea. (You can click the link below to see the original recipe.) If you get left over pesto, you can use on sandwiches!

Helga

Pasta with Spinach Pesto & Peas

Adapted from The Kitchn

Spinach Pesto:
makes about 2 cups

Ingredients
3 ounces of cream cheese
1 clove garlic, peeled with root end trimmed off
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup almonds
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
10-12 ounces of spinach, washed and spun dry
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

Add the cheese, garlic, olive oil, almonds and lemon juice to the bowl of a food processor and mix until combined. Add the spinach and run the food processor until the mixture has formed a thick paste. If the spinach won’t fit all at once, add it in batches. Taste for seasonings, adding salt, pepper, and lemon juice as needed.

Pasta with Spinach Pesto & Peas
makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients:
1 pound reginette pasta (or your pasta shape of choice!)
1/2 cup pasta water (don’t skip this!)
1/2 Tablespoon olive oil
1 cup peas (cooked)
1/2 cup spinach pesto (more as needed)
grated Parmesan for sprinkling on top

Bring a large amount of water to a rapid boil, add a palm-full of salt, and cook the pasta to al dente. (follow the package’s instructions.) Before draining the pasta, scoop out about a half cup of the pasta cooking water and set aside. Drain the pasta and set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and add the peas and toss until warmed through–about 30 seconds.
Add the pasta to the skillet and pour the pesto on top. Toss to combine everything. If the sauce is looking a little “loose” or you’d like it a bit creamier, add a splash (just a splash!) of the pasta water. Stir and add more pasta water if desired.
Taste for seasonings and add salt and pepper as needed.
Serve with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Note: You may add shredded bits of chicken breast.

10:37 AM
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- Pasta, Peas, pesto, Spinach, vegetable, vegetarian
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Creamed Spinach

For me, spinach is a great addition to any baked dish such as lasagna, quiche, caneloni, etc. If I will serve it as a side dish, this is my favorite recipe because the bechamel sauce takes away the spinach’s bitterness. Kids will probably eat this…. probably. What is it with kids and spinach? It’s not that bad, is it? As a kid I remember I used to love spinach with a lot of lemon and some salt.

This is great with chicken, as a side dish with steak, and as a light dinner with some soup. What I like to do is toast white bread, cut it in half so you get triangles, top with creamed spinach and a slice of hard boiled egg, and finally sprinkle parmesan on top, I also loved this since I was a kid.

Creamed Spinach

Recipe from Martha Stewart
Serves 3

Ingredients
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 pound spinach
(you can find the recipe for Bechamel Sauce in our Roasted Vegetable Lasagna post, here.
Divide the ingredients by half to use in this recipe)
1 1/2 cups Bechamel Sauce

Directions

In a large saucepan, bring water and salt to a simmer.
Add spinach; cover and cook until spinach wilts, about 3 minutes.
Drain spinach in a colander, pressing out as much liquid as possible with the back of a wooden spoon.
In a large bowl, stir together spinach and warm bechamel sauce until spinach is completely coated. Season with salt and ground pepper.

Grandma Lucy’s Torta Pascualina (Veggie Pie)

When my dad was growing up, my grandmother had to make sure the kids got their veggies and proteins, but at the same time she needed to use the leftovers from days before… I don’t know exactly when she came up with the recipe but it’s one that has gone from generation to generation. She would call it the “scraps pie”, by using the left over chicken or meat from the day before (never together though). My favorite from the versions, is definitely this one: with tuna. The “fishy” flavor from the tuna is toned down with both the Bechamel Sauce and the spinach. Give it a try! This soon will become your left over go-to recipe.

Torta Pascualina
A Foodies’ Kitchen Original Recipe
Serving Size: 8 servings

Ingredients:
10 ounces spinach, clean and drained
1 cup milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter
5 ounces tuna
4 teaspoons cornflour or cornstarch
2 carrots, medium, diced
1/2 cup green peas
pepper to taste
salt to taste
garlic salt to taste
Single crust Pate Brisee (Pie Dough)

Directions:

Preheat the oven at 350ºC
Follow the directions to make the Pie crust recipe, and bake for 15 minutes, until light golden color. Make sure you pinch the crust with a fork before baking.
Mix the cornstarch, milk, salt, pepper and garlic salt on a heated pan and set the stove to medium.
Add the spinach and tuna, blend it completely.
Add to the pie crust and bake for 30 minutes.
Let it set for about 15 minutes as with any pie, and serve immediately.