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 pasta is full of yummy green things and just perfect for summery days!
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 enough.
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.
The pasta is by Nomad Health, is 100% gluten-free (great for our celiac 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 Asparagus 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 edamame 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!)
Summery Green Pasta
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
- 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 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ 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
Instructions
- Boil the water for the pasta
- In the meantime, chop all your ingredients.
- In a large pan, sweat the leeks until they are softened
- Add the lettuce & let it cook down for a minute
- Add all the other ingredients and simmer for 3-4 minutes until the snowpeas/mangtout are just softening.
- By now your water should have boiled- Boil as per the instructions (NB: the quinoa pasta needs only 3 minutes)
- Drain the pasta & add it all into the green pasta sauce. Mix Well.
- Season and add extra dill to garnish.
Notes
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