Pea Shoot Pasta with Lemon Cream Sauce

For some reason this winter seems to have dragged on longer than usual.  Perhaps it is the unusual number of rainy days, or the dearth of warm sunny ones, but I feel like winter has been hard to shake.  I know that in a few weeks it will be blazing hot and the humidity will have me wilting, but right now I am really craving some warm spring days.

At least spring has come to the farmer's market.  Among our favorite treats in early spring are pea shoots.  These are actually the vines of young peas.  They are delicate, with the sweet, green flavor of young peas, but crunchier.  And they have these fabulous little curly tendrils that are almost too cute to eat.  We picked these up from Calvert's Gift Farm, one of our favorite stands at the Takoma Park farmer's market, but I'm sure you can find them at many markets this time of year. 

My sister and brother-in-law have been making pasta with lemon and cream to go with the pea shoots, and I love that combination of flavors. 

In my attempts, though, I have not been satisfied with the texture.  At first, I was cooking the pea shoots, but, even if I cooked them only briefly, they would end up in a tangled clump that was hard to distribute over the pasta.  They are so delicate that they are delicious raw, so this time I left them raw, topped the pasta with them, and we mixed them in bite by bite as we ate. 

I thought the children might balk at the pile of greens on top of their pasta, but they all loved them.  Chloe even picked out the pea shoots and left the pasta!

Pea Shoot Pasta with Lemon Cream Sauce

Serves 5
10 minutes preparation time
20 minutes cooking time

1 pound spaghetti or linguine
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons unbleached wheat flour
1 cup pasta water
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup cream
1 teaspoon salt
a few grinds fresh pepper
approximately 8 cups pea shoots, chopped coarsely

Put a large pot of water to boil.  When the water boils, add a generous amount of salt and then add the pasta.  Cook for 1 minute less than the time given on the box.

Meanwhile, make the lemon-cream sauce.  Melt the butter in a large skillet and when it begins to foam, whisk in the flour.  Whisk until the flour is completely incorporated.  Scoop a cup of water out of the pasta pot and add it and the lemon juice to the flour mixture.  Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking.  Reduce the heat and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the lemon zest, cream, salt, and pepper.

When the pasta has finished cooking, drain it in a collander and then briefly toss it in the cream sauce.  Scoop some pasta onto each plate and mound the pea shoots on top.  Serve immediately.

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Comments

[rosana]

this is right up our alley...i do a pasta with garlic,lemon and cheese. i top it with arugula...so yum! going to give this one a whirl this week. can i find the pea shoots at whole foods?

[Margy]

I'll have to try it with arugula. I have not seen pea shoots at whole foods, but I haven't looked very hard because we usually get them at the farmer's market. if you don't find them, let me know and we can pick some up for you when we go to the farmer's market on sunday. this is a full service blog!

[Tamara Rice]

I made this over the weekend and loved it! Fresh pea shoots from the farmers market are my new favorite! I left them in a bowl on the counter and Samantha and I snacked on them for a few days until they were gone. Thanks for the inspiration!

[rosana]

for anyone else that stumbles upon this recipe, i did try it w/ the arugula and it was delicious. i couldn't find pea shoots so i sprinkled the pasta with some actual peas and topped with arugula. the lemon-y flavor of the pasta was a great combo with the sweetness of the peas and bite of the arugula. yum!

[Margy]

Tamara, I'm so glad that you and Samantha liked the pea shoots. How sweet!

Rosana, The arugula-pea combination sounds great. I'll definitely give it a try. Thanks for sharing your variation.