This simple spring pasta salad is a lesson in culinary restraint. There are so many things we could add to this, but we’re not going to do it. I want to celebrate my tender and sweet spring peas, and delicate star-shaped pasta (Stellette) in a simple salad, and I’m not going to clutter it up trying to clean out the vegetable bins. Everything about this salad is subtle. The tender peas barely get cooked by sitting in the hot pasta for a few minutes. The dressing is nothing more than some lemon and oil. I finish with some fresh mint and parsley, salt and pepper and I’m done. Just stop and back away from the salad. There are many magical food pairings, but one of my personal favorites is mint and fresh peas. There is just something about those two ingredients getting together that makes both shine above and beyond what they are capable of alone.Sure, usually pasta salads are a great excuse to chop up and use all those forgotten veggies in the bottom of the fridge yearning to be free, but not this one. Save that one for the company picnic. Today’s recipe is you and your lover, sitting on a blanket somewhere fresh and green, enjoying this and several others of life’s simple pleasures.
Ingredients:
8oz Stellette pasta
1/2 cup spring peas
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1.2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup chopper fresh mint
1/4 cup chopper fresh Italian parsley
*don’t forget to salt the water you boil the pasta in!
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