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Friday, 1 March 2024

Light & Easy Pasta with Garlic, Peas & Lemon

 I've used a decent amount of garlic lately when cooking - and no one around here complains because we do love garlic.  However, I had the funniest conversation the other day with my two girls. 

Younger: Is there a lot of garlic in this? 
Older: Oooooh yeah. 
Younger: That's okay. Doesn't garlic make your breath smell good? 
Older: Uh, no. 
Me: Um, nope.
Younger: But mom told us that, I thought! 
Older: She was joking. 
Me: Yep. Sorry. [starts laughing]
Younger: Argh!!!! 

Despite this, they still love dishes with plenty of garlic, like this yummy pasta dish. If you make sure to cook your garlic nicely, it removes a lot of the spice and you're left with the wonderful garlic flavors.  Enjoy!
Easy peasy lemon squeezy pasta meal! 

Light & Easy Pasta with Garlic, Peas & Lemon

*You'll prepare the vegetables and noodles while you're making the sauce, then can toss everything together in the sauce pan.*

Steam Vegetables (peas (or broccoli) with option to add spinach)

*While you're boiling water and cooking pasta, below, prepare your steamed vegetables.*  

Add to a pot with a tight fitting lid:
1 cup peas OR 2 cups broccoli (if you prefer vs peas) 

Add ~1/2" water, and put on high heat, with lid on, until steam is visibly coming out.  Turn off the heat and leave the pot where-is until I'm ready to use.  *Drain before adding to the pasta/sauce.*

If you want use fresh or frozen diced spinach, you'll add this after the vegetables have cooked and sat ~5 minutes.  Just add:
 ~1/2 - 3/4 cup frozen diced spinach or 1 - 2 cups diced fresh spinach on top of the steamed vegetables and put the lid back on.  Let sit 2-3 minutes, then mix.  Put lid back on and leave until ready to drain and add to the pasta later.  *Make sure you drain this before adding to your pasta/sauce!*

Cook Pasta

Cook one package gluten-free pasta as directed on the package.  Make sure to taste, so it's to the softness you desire.  I find GF pasta typically needs an extra couple minutes of cooking.  Drain and rinse in cold water and set aside.  There are many kinds of GF pasta - personally, my favorite types are ones that include a mix of brown rice, white rice, corn, and quinoa.  I find these noodles give me the best texture and flavor.  But go with your favorite!

A couple tips that I find helpful when cooking GF pasta
1. Salt the water. I usually add about 1 Tbsp salt to my pot.
2. Taste before draining, since often it needs an extra couple minutes of cooking.  
3. Drain and rinse in cold water.  

Garlic & Lemon Sauce

In a large saucepan, heat over medium to medium-high heat:  
3 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp olive oil

Add and cook until fragrant (~2 minutes):
1 - 2 bulbs garlic, peeled and thinly sliced (This is a lot of garlic, yes)
Salt & Pepper, a few dashes of both
My daughter: how much garlic did you put in this?  Me: two bulbs.  Her: oh. Okay. Wait, two BULBS?!!

Add and stir in quickly: 
~1/3 - 1/2 cup fresh juice from lemons (~1 1/2 lemons)
1 - 2 tsp dried oregano
1 - 2 tsp dried basil

Mix together, then add and mix in: 
1 cup cold chicken broth (you can use 1 cup water + 1 tsp GF bouillon paste)
2-3 tsp cornstarch

*If you don't have cold chicken broth, then mix your 2-3 tsp cornstarch with 1/8 - 1/4 cup cold water before adding.  

Whisk/stir sauce over medium heat until bubbling and the mixture has thickened slightly.  
Stirring in the cornstarch/broth mixture to thicken. 

Add in your steamed vegetables (peas (and spinach, if used)). 
Mixed in the steamed veggies from earlier. In this case here there are peas and a bit of spinach.

Turn off heat. Add and stir in: 
1/2 - 1 cup grated Parmesan
Yay for cheese!
Nicely mixed in and ready for the tomatoes.

Add and stir in: 
large handful grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced
Folding in some tomatoes - ready to add the pasta

Fold your drained pasta, from above. Season with additional salt & pepper, to taste. Enjoy! 

Light & Easy Pasta with Garlic, Peas & Lemon Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!

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