| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 30 min |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Cook: | 15 min |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 30 min |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Cook: | 15 min |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- Salt
- 1 pound whole-wheat penne pasta
- 1 package frozen peas, defrosted
- 1/4 cup lightly toasted pine nuts
- 1 cup packed basil leaves
- 6 to 8 sprigs fresh tarragon, leaves stripped
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano, a couple of handfuls, plus more for serving
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, eyeball it
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water up to a boil then season water with salt and cook penne to al dente. Heads up: you will need to reserve 1 or 2 ladles of starchy cooking water, 1/2 to 3/4 cup, before draining the pasta.
- Place 1/2 of the peas in the bottom of a large serving dish. Place the rest of the peas in a food processor with the pine nuts, basil, tarragon leaves, lemon zest, cheese and olive oil. Add a little salt and pepper then process the pesto into rough paste, adjust seasonings.
- Pour starchy water over peas in bowl then add pesto. Pour hot, drained pasta over the pesto and toss vigorously to coat and combine. Adjust seasoning and serve, passing extra cheese at the table.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 571 |
| Total Fat | 27 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Carbohydrates | 66 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Sugar | 5 g |
| Protein | 18 g |
| Cholesterol | 8 mg |
| Sodium | 386 mg |
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 571 |
| Total Fat | 27 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Carbohydrates | 66 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Sugar | 5 g |
| Protein | 18 g |
| Cholesterol | 8 mg |
| Sodium | 386 mg |
Reviews
I usually love Rachael Ray, but I’m not so impressed with this one. Unless you really love peas. It’s just too overpowering. Sorry!
This is such a great summer dish! I had it tonight with my family and we loved it! It fairly easy to make and really yummy. I will definitely be making this dish again soon 🙂 Give it a try!
I couldn’t eat this myself, and after giving it to my boyfriend who is a human garbage disposal he said, “I think that’s the worst thing I have ever eaten,” and this after a bad experience of eating fish tacos in an airport. (just to put his sentiment in to perspective) I followed the recipe and we both like peas but this was…just gross. If I could give it no stars, I would. Big waste of money.
I really liked this recipe. I served it to some people who weren’t crazy about peas, so its hard to really rate this. I pretty much like all food, and I’m not picky at all. I thought the dish was great. They couldn’t have been too unhappy, we cleaned the plate!!!
I would make it again!
I couldn’t find whole wheat penne. I used regular penne and it turned out great. I didn’t care for the taste of the tarragon, otherwise I would have given this recipe five stars for ease and taste.
I agree with Confused. “Eyeball it” seems like Rachel Ray’s tagline, like “bam!” is for Emeril – which is fine, that that’s what it is, but leave it out of the recipe. Either you don’t have exact measurements and everything is a rough estimation or you do have exact measurements. It would be one thing if it were something that depends on the finished dish, an instruction like “salt to taste”, but this “eyeball it” stuff is really stupid for an actual ingredient. If you mean 1/3rd or 2/3 cup, say it.
Anyway. Peas are lovely with pesto. haha.
I really liked this pasta dish. The addition of the peas gave the pesto a nice sweetness. I also added chopped tomatoes and spinach (let the warm pasta wilt it) to add some more veggies to the meal.
I made this yesterday, but with a few changes. My frozen peas looked a old when I took them out of the freezer, so I subbed edamame and also used organic brown rice pasta instead of the whole wheat penne (no gluten and more fiber/protein) It came out great. It wasn’t as sweet as others described, but that is probably because of no peas. Next time I will try it w/ 1/2 peas and 1/2 edamame. Nice Spring recipe-thanks Rachel!
I love pesto, and this was a wonderful change … if you like sweet. The peas added an extra yummy sweetness; the tarragon a uniqueness. Very good. The whole wheat penne was a nutty, healthier touch, but next time I may try non-wheat pasta. This may add more attractiveness to the final dish, perhaps topped with some diced tomato. Thanks Rachael!
I couldn’t believe how easy and how good this was. I made 2 changes. Substituted dried thyme for the tarragon and added sour cream instead of pine nuts. It was so fragrant and fresh. Loved it!