Pasta with Peas, Butter and Parmesan

Ingredients

• 10 oz Whole wheat pasta (dry)
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• 2 cups Frozen peas
• 2 tbsp Unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 1 tsp zest Lemon
• ½ tsp Black pepper
• ¼ cup Fresh basil, torn (optional)

Method

1. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil and cook the pasta to one minute short of the package time.
2. Two minutes before the pasta is done, tip the frozen peas straight into the same pot. They only need to heat through.
3. Scoop out a full cup of the cooking water and set it aside where you will not forget it. This is the sauce. Then drain the pasta and peas.
4. Put the pot back on low heat with the butter and olive oil. Return the pasta, add half the parmesan and a big splash of the pasta water, and stir hard for about a minute. It will look thin, then suddenly turn creamy and coat the noodles — that is the starch doing its work.
5. Off the heat, stir in the lemon zest and the pepper. Taste it. Add more parmesan or another splash of pasta water until it looks right.
6. Scatter the rest of the parmesan and the torn basil over the bowls at the table.

Notes

✨ The restaurant touch

Grate the parmesan on the fine side of the grater, not the shredder side. It melts into the water instead of sitting on top in strings, which is most of the difference between this and a plate of buttered noodles.

🧒 For the kids

This one is theirs. Tipping the peas in, scattering the cheese and tearing the basil are all real steps with real consequences, and the pasta water trick is genuinely impressive to watch.

🌿 From the garden

Basil from a pot on the windowsill, torn in at the end.

🥡 Leftovers

Best the day it is made. Reheat with a splash of water rather than in a dry pan.

Per serving

Computed from USDA FoodData Central values. A planning tool, not medical advice.