In my overwhelmed state after returning from vacation on Sunday, I mostly wandered, weeded and randomly picked stuff in the garden. I had a lot of kitchen work, mostly having to do with radishes, beets, greens, and lettuce. I brought in the veggies from the cart one type at a time and moved them through. I even made two batches of pesto with the basil and fresh garlic. I made a little pile of stuff on the counter as I worked and then for dinner made some sauteed veggies with pasta (pesto on the pasta). It was a good antidote to the vacation eating.
The next evening, Monday night, I made pork chops and beets. It was mostly about the beets, which are gorgeous this year. I sauteed the greens (and some Swiss chard) with butter and oil and garlic (I realize my growing distaste for beet greens is not about the greens so much as the vinegar called for in most recipes). After roasting and peeling the beets, I warmed them in butter and a few tablespoons of stout-like beer (Third Street Brewery’s Black IPA). Here’s a link to the very good recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Beets-with-Stout-and-Sauteed-Beet-Greens-10357
Last night, Tuesday, I really wanted to make pea pesto. I also wanted to use mint with peas. Epicurious didn’t really help me with a good recipe, so I did a Google search on pea pesto. Hooray, smitten kitchen, one of my favorite bloggers, had a recipe from 2011. Hers was still basically regular pesto, but with peas instead of basil. I adapted it and added herbs, which I think did a lot for the dish. I added shrimp, too, which made it even better. This was extremely delicious and made me feel better about the fact that I only really had a cup of peas once they were shelled (peas are the most disappointing vegetable in the garden, to my mind). Here is my recipe:
Shrimp and Pea Pesto with Herbs
12 oz fettuccine
10-12 medium uncooked shrimp, deveined and shelled
2-3 cloves garlic
2-3 shallots, sliced thin
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs olive oil
1- 1.5 cups peas
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbs toasted walnut pieces
2 Tbs fresh mint (even more would be good)1-2 Tbs basil (it is pesto, after all)
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup olive oil
In a small saucepan, boil the peas for 2 minutes and then stop the cooking in an ice bath. In a larger pot of boiling water, cook the pasta until al dente, about 14-15 minutes. Reserve some liquid.
In a small food processor, combine the peas, toasted walnut pieces, Parmesan cheese, mint, basil and salt and grind to a paste. While running the processor, pour in the olive oil and process until smooth. You’re going to heat the sauce with water from the pasta, so it doesn’t matter if it’s not the consistency of regular pesto. Mine was more of a solid paste, even with the olive oil.
In a large frying pan or saute pan, melt the butter and oil. Saute the garlic for 30 seconds, then add the shallots (I had garden shallots; onion would of course work fine) and shrimp. Cook until the shrimp is pink, about 4 minutes. Add the pesto and stir in the pasta cooking liquid as needed to make a creamy sauce. Add the fettuccine and coat with the pesto (I add it a little at a time to be sure I have the right sauce/pasta ratio). Serve in wide pasta bowls or on plates topped with fresh mint, thyme, and a nasturtium if they’re flowering!