Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Pasta With Peas

So, maybe you wondered what I did with those lovely fresh peas? Because Chilebrown warned me to use them up quickly, that they are at their best when freshly picked, I decided to use them in a pasta dish that very night.


A little research on the interwebs brought me this recipe from epicurious.com, my go-to site when I don't have an idea for dinner. I typed "peas and ham" into the search window, as I had a ham steak in the fridge, and up popped what sounded like a great recipe for pasta.


It turned out to be magically easy and the perfect use for fresh peas. All you use is onion, pasta, ham, peas, Parmesan cheese and an artery-clogging amount of butter and heavy cream. My heart quailed while reading the recipe, so I subbed in half-and-half for the cream, reduced the butter a bit, but otherwise followed the recipe closely. 


It makes an amazing little sauce for the pasta, almost without effort. All you do is melt some butter, sauté some onion, add a dab of water and the peas to cook for just a few minutes before adding the ham and the cream, more butter and Parm. If I was making it again, I'd likely add mushrooms somewhere in the mix, I'd probably use a dry-cured Italian ham for more pizzazz (Virginia ham would be wonderful in small amounts), and I'd definitely raise the goodies-to-pasta ratio in favor of more goodies, but it was really delicious, plus easy, quick and simple. 


If you are working, you can have this dinner on the table in the time it takes to boil the pasta.Once the water is boiling, you are about 12 minutes from dinner.You can use fresh peas, or frozen ones, and any kind of ham that you have on hand would work.


I only used about half the peas that Chilebrown gifted to me. I will have fun deciding what to do with the remainder of that lovely stash.

6 Comments:

Blogger Greg said...

Creamy,cheesy,buttery some of my favorite words.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012  
Blogger Chilebrown said...

That sound good Zoomie. The peas are gone now. I did get one last meal out of them. They had turned starchy and were perfect for soup. Fresh peas are the bomb.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012  
Blogger cookiecrumb said...

Sounds so nice. Just for a thought, Zoomie, consider torn pieces of smoked salmon instead of the ham. Add it last, it doesn't need cooking.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012  
Blogger Zoomie said...

Greg, my favorite vocabulary, too.

Chilebrown, glad you got one last meal from your peas. They were spectacular. Thanks, again!

Cookiecrumb, salmon also a good idea. If I had left over planked salmon, even better!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012  
Blogger Nancy Ewart said...

Pasta and peas - two of my favorite combinations. But I remember a recipe of Julia's (?) of peas and lettuce. I will see if I can find it; it was buttery and delicate.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012  
Blogger Zoomie said...

Nancy, I keep reading about cooked lettuce and it seems so odd to me - will have to try it. I have all her books, so I should be able to find it.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012  

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