My mom loves pasta and Tuscany and this trio of pasta dishes are a tribute to a place called Acqua all’Due in Florence (they have a sister restaurant in San Diego as well). The chef, Stefano, uses vegetable purees to dress pasta starters. I’m sure his mama is well fed and that his are tastier than mine, but this is the best I can come up with, without a plane ticket.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 30 min |
| Prep: | 10 min |
| Cook: | 20 min |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds bow tie pasta
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock, plus more if needed
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1 (10-ounce) box frozen peas
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup fresh ricotta cheese
- 10 leaves fresh basil, torn or shredded
- A handful mint leaves, finely chopped
- 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 (10-ounce) box frozen cooked carrots or baby carrots
- 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
- A few dashes hot sauce
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 3 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
- 1 (16-ounce) jar roasted yellow or red peppers, drained (about 5 to 6 peppers)
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon aged balsamic vinegar
- A handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, to taste
Instructions
- Heat a large pot of water to a boil, salt liberally and cook pasta to al dente.
- While pasta cooks, you will need 3small skillets set up and a food processor near by. Set up 3 serving dishes that would hold half a pound of pasta each on a counter near the stove.
- In first skillet, melt butter with olive oil over medium heat, add onion, season with salt and pepper, to taste, and sweat 5 to 6 minutes. Add stock and zest and bring to a boil. Add peas, season with salt and pepper and heat through, about 2 minutes. Put in food processor and process until a smooth sauce forms and transfer to a bowl, fold in fresh ricotta, basil and mint with rubber spatula, adjust seasoning salt. When pasta is ready, add a ladle of pasta water or chicken stock, if needed and 1/3 of the pasta to the bowl. Toss the pasta with sauce.
- In the second skillet while peas are cooking, add chicken stock, carrots, curry powder, hot sauce, salt and pepper, to taste, honey and butter. Bring to a boil and let simmer to heat through, 10 minutes.
- While carrots are cooking, grind roasted peppers into a paste. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in third pan over medium-low heat and saute the garlic and red pepper, stir in ground peppers and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Rinse processor bowl and return to base to grind the carrots when they are tender. When peppers are hot, stir in balsamic vinegar and parsley and let simmer over low heat. Stir in starchy cooking liquid or stock, scrape sauce into serving dish and coat 1/3 of the pasta and cheese.
- Grind carrots into a smooth paste and transfer to a serving dish. Thin carrot sauce with starchy liquid or stock and toss with remaining half pound of pasta and chives.
Reviews
Too many ingredients I want a 30-minute meal not a 1,000 hours at the grocery store meal
Not that great
i love rachael raye, and generally, im almost never disappointed w/ any of her recipes….but this one was awful! My family thought this was one of the most disgusting dishes I have ever made! needless to say, it was inedible, and went into the trash. Lots of wasted ingredients & time….if your thinking about making this dish, DONT!! I promise i will be saving you money & time! yucko! The flavors just didint come thru as I expected.
My family loves peas. I made this recipe and found it was very dissapointing. Nobody liked it.
The recipes look great, but the extra ideas from viewers look good too. Where did they get those pasta bowls.. gorgeous
Great Idea!Pasta can be Boring.These 3 Recipes give a couple options.I like these “go to” easily done under 30 minutes and can use vegetables we like and cheeses.Love the 3 varitions for “Elsa”. Rachael’s Mother We love them too!
I’ve made the pea sauce twice now, but both times I added a few things that I thought would make it more flavorful. One thing I’m surprised it didn’t call for was garlic, so the first time I made this I added 3 cloves of minced garlic. I also diced up about a cup of cooked ham and that really made it good. I’m sure it would have been bland without the addition of these two things.
The second time I made it though, I tried to think of ways to give this unique but otherwise bland sauce some much needed kick and spruce it up a bit. I added about 1/4 tsp dry mustard, 1/3 cup sherry cooking wine, about 2 Tbls balsamic vinegar, 1/2 tsp more lemon zest, and 1 cup cooked diced ham. The result was excellent! The addition of these ingredients really added a depth of flavor it so badly needed. I haven’t tried the carrot or roasted red pepper sauce yet, but I’m looking forward to giving those a try too.
If you tried the pea sauce and didn’t like it, don’t give up! Try these changes and I think you’ll find that it makes all the difference. It’s a unique and healthy twist on your average pasta sauce and a great way to get your kids to eat their veggies 🙂
this is the first food network recipe I didn’t like at all !!! and I’m a vegetarian ! I’m so glad that I made this while my husband was out of town ! usually I make a new recipe when we have company or when I want to surprise him w/ a new dish……I can’t believe how awful this was (pea sauce )…..Rachel you let me down ! I’m so mad that I spent the money I did on this sauce…….Guess there’s always a first time !
The flavors did not come together well, and the texture was not quite smooth enough. The sauce was bland (maybe more lemon may have helped?), and there was not enough seasoning to balance the sweetness of the peas. I doubled the recipe in anticipation of a tasty sauce, and ended up throwing most of it away. The other sauces might be okay, but I’m not taking any chances.
I did not have curry so I added a dash of Rosemary to the carrot sauce recipe. I used the carrot sauce as a dipping sauce for Salmon that was cooked with soy sauce, pepper and fresh garlic). Delicious.