Pasta with Almond Pea Pesto

By ForkAndTheCork

Ingredients

• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 pound penne, (or other short tubular pasta)
• 2 packages (10 ounces each) frozen peas, thawed
• 1/2 cup blanched almonds
• Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Preparation

Step 1

1.In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente, according to package instructions, adding 1 package of peas during last minute of cooking time. Reserve 1 cup pasta water; drain pasta and peas, and return to pot.

2.Meanwhile, in a food processor, finely grind almonds. Add lemon zest and juice, remaining package of peas, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt; process until well combined. With motor running, gradually add oil; process until smooth.

3.Add almond-pea pesto to pasta; toss to coat, adding reserved pasta water (as needed) to adjust consistency of sauce. Season with salt and pepper; serve.

You can sub snow peas for peas if you like, just add the snow peas with the pasta while cooking for last 3 minutes, drain with pasta.