This time of year is so fun in the garden, we have lettuces, herbs & peas galore, just waiting for us to pop down and pick some to make a salad or quick summer supper with.
This year I was a little overenthusiastic with our lettuce planting, and we have LOADS (seriously. LOADS!!!) I do this each year & I never learn. You see the seedlings look so dinky and cute, and I always worry we won’t have enough. Spoilers. We ALWAYS have enought.
This means we have been eating lots & lots of salad. Which is great, but I wanted to use more up than you can eat in just a salad and get a bit more creative, and was reminded of one of my other favourite summer dishes Petit Pois a la Francois, which uses lots of new season peas that are simmered with lettuce leaves. PERFECT.
We also had a delivery of this AMAZING quinoa pasta which I wanted to try out for this June’s Vegan Larder Subscription Box.
(I just KNOW you want to sign up for a monthly Vegan Larder box… we have SO many great things for you to try each month, just like this pasta !!)
The pasta is by Nomad Health, is 100% gluten free (great for our cealiac friends) and best of all, cooks super quickly AND tastes just like ordinary pasta. (oh- and is high in protein! yum!)
So, this gorgeous, summery green pasta was born.
It has: Little Gem Lettuce, Broad Beans, MangeTout (Snow peas) & a few Aspargus Spears that I was desperate to use up!
I also chopped in some dill, which adds a lovely summer fragrance to the whole thing!
You could just as easily use a whole butter lettuce or similar & frozen peas or shelled edmamame beans in place of the broad beans & lettuce. The result will be just as delicious. And feel free to use whatever short pasta you love. (but do try the Nomad pasta if you have a chance, it’s great!)
Full of all the good green things that are in season in early summer!
- 1 medium leek - finely chopped
- 1 medium whole lettuce (Gem or Butter lettuces are nice) - chopped into 2 cm strips or two small Little Gem lettuces
- 1 cup shelled broad beans or edamame
- 1 handful Mangetout topped and tailed & cut in half lengthways
- 5-6 spears Asparagus- stems finely chopped, heads left whole. (you could leave this out, but it is nice!)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup white wine or mirin
- 5-6 sprigs dill finely chopped
- 200 g pasta (if using the quinoa pasta)- or 300g if using normal pasta The Quinoa pasta is super filling so you need less!
- Salt & Pepper to taste
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Boil the water for the pasta
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In the meantime, chop all your ingredients.
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In a large pan, sweat the leeks until they are softened
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Add the lettuce & let it cook down for a minute
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Add all the other ingredients and simmer for 3-4 minutes until the snowpeas/mangtout are just softening.
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By now your water should have boiled- Boil as per the instructions (NB: the quinoa pasta needs only 3 minutes)
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Drain the pasta & add it all into the green pasta sauce. Mix Well.
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Season and add extra dill to garnish.
This recipe is super delicious with the addition of Good Carma cheezy sprinkles to serve on top! (Spoilers.. also coming in the June box!)
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