Here, you can learn how to make homemade pesto, so you don't have to reserve tasty pasta dishes for the warmer season only! Sweet peas replace the fresh herbs of the standard Italian basil pesto but include more classic spring ingredients. Better yet, you don't even have to wait for the first sign of fresh peas in your farmers market. Here you will need a good old bag of frozen pea. That's the best way to get a taste of sunshine even as you wait for the warmer weather to fully show up.
This basic pesto can be made in a flash in a food processor. This means you don't even have to steam or boil the frozen peas before making this dish! That's all right, just let them be a little on the firm side when you pulse them together with garlic, toasted pistachios, lemon zest and juice, Pecorino Romano cheese and olive oil in the bowl of the food processor. What will you find in this dish, the pistachios add a creamy buttery element to the dish combined with a citrus kick from our lemon juice and deliciousness from the Pecorino cheese which offsets the sweetness from the freshly shelled peas. This is one recipe that will have you ready to spring forward into the season!
How to Use Pea Pesto
Pea pesto is no different than any other pesto out there as it can be used in countless different ways. Here are a handful of my favorite ways to use it:
- Slap it on the chickpea flatbread socca then slice it into four big pieces then fry an egg and place it on each wedge of the socca. Or you can cut the socca into little triangles and, just before serving, put a spoonful of ricotta on each wedge and a dusting of lemon zest for a nibble.
- Serve it with pasta or gnocchi, otherwise, you could add a squeeze of lemon or tie it up with a twist of black pepper.
- Mix it into scrambled eggs just before those are done.
- Try putting it on top of grilled salmon or chicken.
- Mix it into asparagus or shrimp risotto after you have removed the pot from heat, just before the serving time.
- Spread it on top of crostini and top the crostini with goat or feta cheese and ground black pepper to make a seasonal munchie.
- Top carrot or asparagus soup with a teasoonful.
- Spread on thickly sliced bread and garnish with avocado or a poached egg or both.
How to Make Pea Pesto With Fresh Peas
However, if you are lucky enough to get a hold of fresh peas, of course you can use those instead of frozen peas in this recipe. As long as you are ready to spent walking around them, of course! Well, maybe for that at least I do believe that it is the reward has its effort worth it. If using fresh peas you will just need to cook them for a short time, usually by blanching. To do this, have a small pot of water to come to boil. Stir in 1 cup fresh shelled peas, and blanch until the peas turn green and remain tender, which should take about 1 minute. Empty liquid through a strainer and promptly move peas to an ice water bath. Discard the water from peas and rinse under running water, drain and put these peas in the processor and continue with the recipe.
Swaps and Substitutions
Besides the buttery sweetness, of course, pistachios grant this pesto, you can use any nuts or seeds toasted for pesto, like walnuts, almonds, cashews, or pepitas (pumpkin seeds).
You can also replace Pecorino Romano cheese with Parmesan cheese. Pecorino may also be a bit saltier than Parmesan so that you may need to add a bit more salt after grating if Parmesan is used instead.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup frozen shelled peas (6 ounces), thawed (see recipe note)
- 2 tablespoons shelled roasted pistachios, unsalted or lightly salted
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 small lemon
- 1/2 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, finely grated
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
Method
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Chop the peas, pistachios, and garlic:
Place the peas, pistachios, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse until it is roughly chopped, this should take approximately 10 pulses.
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Add the remaining ingredients:
Squeeze the lemon and add only the zest into the food processor and chop it very, very finely. Cut the lemon in two, and then add the juice to the food processor bowl – about two tablespoons. Then, add the grated cheese, olive oil and kosher salt.
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Blend the pesto:
Handle the pesto, occasionally using a spatula to pull the mixture from the sides of the bowl down into the bowl about one-third of the way, until it forms a paste of sorts, around 30 seconds. Another pair of tongs already wetted until the blade was quite hot was taken and a pinch of salt flaked on with it and the meat tasted and if it were necessary salted again.
Store leftover pesto in a refrigerator in an airtight container for a week. It does not need to be brown as with basil pesto; and therefore do not put olive oil on the surface. Indeed, you can freeze pesto in a container with a lid or in ice cube trays – transfer the frozen cubes to a zip-top bag for longer storage – for up to 6 months.
