It’s a Triple ‘P’ delight! Pea Pesto Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes.

This pea pesto pasta with sun-dried tomatoes gives you a twist on the typical basil pesto recipe you are used to. 

Pea pesto pasta is a great side dish option which we are sure your guests will love! Pasta is often the meal on its own but sometimes we really enjoy having some cold pasta as a side dish. This pea pesto pasta dish gave us a great opportunity to make use of the packet of Emborg frozen peas we got from Whatsinstore, and create something delicious out of it. 

The main thing here is just tweaking your typical pesto recipe, adding a few extra new ingredients. We’re sure the Italians will forgive us for this! This dish is delicious and will definitely satisfy all your carb cravings. It also only takes you about 30 minutes to prepare and cook. 

This pea pesto pasta recipe is vegetarian and since the pesto recipe is gluten free, you can easily transform this entire dish to a gluten free recipe by using gluten free pasta instead. If you’re keen on making this recipe vegan and/or dairy free, simply replace the Parmesan cheese with vegan Parmesan cheese. The taste is delicious regardless of whether you use vegan or dairy Parmesan cheese. With this small change, this dish would also be lactose free.

You might be wondering why bother about adding the peas in the first place and create a pea pesto pasta. I mean, the typical pesto recipe works well as it is, right? We find that peas add a lot of value to this dish in terms of nutrition, texture and taste. In the case of nutrition, peas are a great source of protein. Peas also make this pesto a lot more creamier and definitely add a lot of extra flavour to this pea pesto pasta dish. We also added sun-dried tomatoes to the pasta dish to give this dish more colour and taste. If you’re not a fan of sun-dried tomatoes, you can leave them out.

Pea pesto can be used for a range of different options. The pesto can be a base for a dip. You can also use it instead of pizza sauce on a pizza. One of our favourite alternative uses of pea pesto is as a spread on bread or crackers. Another option is using this pesto to top other vegetables. We find that roasted vegetables work best for this.

You can find the recipe for this pea pesto pasta here below.

Ingredients:

500g pasta (you can use gluten free pasta if you like)

150g Emborg Frozen Peas

100g Basil

6 garlic cloves

1 lemon

75ml olive oil

35g Pine nuts

30g sun-dried tomatoes

30g rucola

30g Parsley

20g parmesan cheese (feel free to use vegan parmesan cheese if you wish)

1 pinch of salt

Method:

1. Put a large pot with water to boil. Put in a tablespoon of salt.
2. Toast the pine nuts
3. Place the peas, basil, parsley, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, 4 garlic cloves and salt in a food processor and blend. Whilst blending, add in 60ml olive oil.
4. When the mixture has become combined and creamy, add in the lemon juice. If needed, add in more olive oil.
5. Add pasta to boiling water and cook as required. Drain well. 
6. In a pan, sauté 15ml olive oil, 2 minced garlic cloves and sun dried tomatoes for 2 minutes.
7. Add the pea pesto and sun-dried tomato mixture to the pasta and stir thoroughly.
8. Garnish with Parmesan and parsley. 

I think the best thing about this pea pesto pasta dish is how much time it will save you! I’ve already mentioned that you only need 30 minutes to prepare, but that’s not the only way it saves you time. You can make a large batch of this pasta and (or the pesto alone) and freeze for up to 4 months. 

Storing this pea pesto pasta in your refrigerator for more than 3 days would not be recommended though. This recipe makes enough for 4-6 side dishes but feel free to adjust the measurements to make larger portions to store for a later date.