Pea Pesto Pasta

You may have gathered by now that we use a lot of peas in our food. I love mixing them through sauces or curries to bulk them up a bit, and they are so healthy. Did you know peas have quite a lot of protein in them?

But this sauce is all about the peas. It’s called a pea ‘pesto’ but there are no pine nuts/ other nuts in it, so it’s super cheap and easy. I originally found the recipe on Tasty Kitchen but I adapted it quite a bit to make it vegan and budget friendly.

I used nutritional yeast in this recipe – I get it from my local health store but it’s also available online – wherever you get it from it’s usually pretty cheap here in the UK – £3 for a big box that lasts quite a while! It’s also fortified with vitamin B12 which is something that people who don’t eat animal products often have a deficiency of. B12 deficiency can lead to tiredness, feeling ill, and lots more so it’s important to make sure you get some. Nutritional yeast has a kind of cheesy/nutty flavour and when added to this dish gives a cheesy hint (my husband even said this and he is used to regular dairy cheese!).

It’s super simple to make – just fry up the onion and garlic, boil the peas, and put all that as well as lemon juice, nutritional yeast, and seasoning in the blender…whizz it up, heat it through on the stove, and mix with pasta!

• Servings: 2
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Ingredients

• 180g pasta
• 400g frozen peas
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt & Pepper

Directions

1. Start off by boiling the peas until they are just cooked – about 4 minutes. Drain and put aside.
2. In a pan, fry the onion and garlic along with seasoning until softened.
3. Put the peas, fried onion and garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and nutritional yeast in your food processor, and pulse until finely blended.
4. Transfer the sauce back to the pan, adding water to thin if necessary, and heat through.
5. Meanwhile, cook your pasta until ready.
6. Drain the pasta when done, and stir into the sauce.