Sunday, June 27, 2010

whole wheat pasta with peas and mint

Out of desperation comes creation, right?  I was at home on Friday watching the Brazil World Cup game and was starving!  Unfortunately, I was really low on ingredients and was scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas.  All I had in my veggie bowl were onions and garlic.  I had some pasta in my pantry.  The only herb I had on hand was mint.  What goes with mint?- Oh yes, peas.  I just happened to have some frozen peas- yay!  With a little chopping and boiling, I had a delicious meal ready in no time.  Here's how...

First I set a pot of water to boil for the pasta (I used a whole wheat organic spaghetti)
Then I thinly sliced 2 small yellow onions (red or white would also work well)
I added the onions to about 3 T EV olive oil in a sautee pan over medium heat and stirred those a bit
next, I peeled and chopped about 6 large cloves of garlic.
I added these to the onions, stirred and turned down the heat.
It was about this point that the water for the pasta began to boil.  Before adding the pasta I added about a teaspoon of sea salt to the boiling water.  It's a great way to season the pasta.
I added about 1/4 package of spaghetti (enough for 2 people)
I stirred the onions again to make sure they were turning golden at an even pace.
then I got out the mint and chopped up a bunch (about 1/4 c chopped)
I quick stirred the onions again then went to my freezer for the peas.
When the pasta was about 2 minutes from being finished, I added about 1/2c frozen peas directly to the boiling water (no need to dirty another dish, right)
I let the pasta and peas cook until al dente (slightly chewy) then drained.
I tossed the pasta and peas into the onions and seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic no-salt seasoning to taste.
Just before serving I tossed in the fresh mint.
Really, it was quite good.  Especially when I thought I had nothing to make :-)  What a treat.

As always I'd love to hear about your experience with this recipe.  There is almost always room for improvement!

Happy cooking!

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