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.