Bring On The Spring: Simple Sweet Pea Pesto Pasta
20 minutes to easy, fresh, in-season din-din, plus homemade pasta flour tips, sunny springtime here in northern Italy, and we're adding another member to our family!
Ciao friends!
How was your week? I have clearly lost my mind… as we have decided to add another high-energy, water-loving, truffle-hunting Lagotto Romagnolo dog to our family. Eddy is 8 months old and past the sharp teeth puppy phase, but still with very soft puppy fluffy fur. I want to name him Schnozzle because his nose is gorgeously huge; more than twice as big as our female Lagotto Coco’s, but my son insists we keep the name he came with - Eddy.
Our dear pup arrives on Tuesday to much anticipation. His story is a little complicated and involved a canile aka dog shelter. We are ready to give him so much love and a great life.
Thank you so much to everyone who shared their advice on adding a second dog! ❤️
Primavera
Spring is in the air and Como is alight with firework magnolia blooms of bright magenta, fuchsia, and white. The Italian sun is hot on winter-worn skin and the breezes are perfumed with flowers, tempting every buzzing bee. Spring peas in their taut green pods wait to be burst open by the pressure of a fingertip. This week’s creamy pesto combines the saltiness of classic Italian cheeses with the fresh sweetness of peas and basil. And yes, it’s the fresh pea pesto with lolli pasta Patrizia and I ate after our live with Judy last weekend!
Jump ahead to the recipe - or stick around for a glimpse of our suddenly very hot Italian spring, Easter prep in Italy, my favorite Italian dessert, and a tip on making fresh pasta. Also, a little guessing game for you…
Flour tip: what is semolina rimacinata?
After our live lolli pasta and fava pesto class last week, I received some questions about the semolina rimacinata that Judy Witts Franchini and I used to make the pasta. I wrote up a little FAQ which I hope is helpful and remembered a post by Giulia Scarpallegia that explained semolina flour and it’s importance in southern Italian pasta so wonderfully.
“Semolina flour is one of the staple ingredients of the Italian South: yellowish, corser than soft wheat flour, it is usually used to make fresh pasta and bread.
There isn’t just one type of fresh pasta dough in Italy. Influenced by traditions, family uses, wealth or povery, and wheat availability, pasta is commonly made with farina 00 (which roughly translates to all-purpose flour) and eggs in the North and Centre of Italy, and with semolina flour in the South. There are obviously exceptions, as the pici dough from Val d’Orcia, in Tuscany, made with all purpose flour and water. Whenver you notice that fresh pasta is made without eggs picture a poorer land, where scarcity and inventiveness gave birth to some of the best fresh pastas of Italy.”-GS
FAQ:
What is semolina rimacinata called in American English? Semolina flour
What is semolina flour? Semola is made from hard, durum wheat and is sandy in texture due to it’s large grains. Semolina flour is semola that’s ground a second time to make it finer in texture, although it is still larger grained than all-purpose flour and more yellow in color.
Is semolina flour the same as all-purpose flour? No, all-purpose flour, which is closest to tipo 0 in Italy, is made from soft wheat. Semolina flour is made from hard wheat aka durum wheat
Where can you find semolina flour outside of Italy? Gustiamo or Eataly in the United States, Ratton Pantry in the United Kingdom
Can you use all-purpose flour to make flour and water pasta? Yes and you can and can substitute it in the same amounts, a 2:1 ratio. The basic recipe is below.
INGREDIENTS: This is an eggless pasta dough, classic in southern Italy, and made with just flour and water in a ratio of 2:1.
Makes pasta for 3-4 people. I notice that in the United States, often this is increased to 400g for 4 people as plates of pasta are bigger.
Next week, I’ll show how to make homemade pasta on a weeknight. Don’t worry, pasta on a weeknight won’t be a regular thing but it can be a really nice way to spend an evening as the days are longer! 🍝
300 g semolina flour aka semola di grano duro
150 ml warm water
salt
Lolli Pasta with Fresh Pea Pesto
Lolli con pesto di piselli
FOR 4 PEOPLE
200g fresh peas, out of the shell
50g parmigiano reggiano
25g pecorino
25g peeled almonds
10 Tbls extra virgin olive oil
few leaves of basil (optional)
400 g lolli, fusilli, or other short pasta that catches the sauce in divots or ridges
6-12 Tbsp cooking water reserved, taken partway through cooking - important! this is your salt!
Freshly ground pepper, to taste (optional)
The pasta
Put the water and salt in a large pot on the stove on high heat until it boils.
Prepare a bowl with ice cubes and water.
While peas are cooking, prepare quantities of all other ingredients and add them to food processor. Don’t blend yet. Wait for the peas!
Add peas to boiling water for 5 minutes. Extract peas with a spider or strainer-spoon and put in their ice bath to stop the cooking and keep them bright green. ***Don’t dump the pea water! You will cleverly use it for your pasta.
Add your pasta to the boiling water. Stir, and stir again every once in a while to prevent sticking. I recommend setting a timer to the time on the package so you don’t overcook.
Once the peas are cooled to at least room temperature, transfer them to the food processor with the other ingredients. Blend til smooth or nearly smooth. I like a little chunkiness.
Top L- R: ingredients, parmigiano on left / pecorino romano on right, peas doing a col plunge, bright green fresh pea pesto! Spoon the pea pesto into a sauce pan or bowl. Add pasta water and whisk with a fork until is the consistency of a tomato sauce
Freshly grind pepper to taste and mix again.
NOTES:
Salt: It’s important not to skimp. This salt is flavoring both your pasta and also your sauce in the form of pasta water.
Pasta: You can also make this with other short, grooved pasta that will grab and hold the thick ricotta sauce. Suggestions: penne, cavatappi, farfalle, rigatoni. It’s delicious with dried pasta but if you have it, the chewy thickness of fresh pasta really levels it up!
Buon appetito! 💚
x Lolly
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This looks DELISH, and congrats on the most adorable new family member!!!
Love the way you right and have included seasonality into your post! Keep it up! 👍🏼