Pasta With Chopped Pesto and Peas Recipe (2024)

Oh, this was marvelous! After a long week of teaching, making this was a balm for a weary soul, both physically and tastefully. Used the herbs I had: parsley, chives, and lots of dill. Almonds and walnuts. Chop, chop, chop, add a bit of salt and more herbs. Chop, chop, chop. The physical chopping let the strain of the week melt away. A tossed salad, a glass of wine. The first bite. Nirvana.

Nice recipe, but too many unnecessary steps. Use toasted slivered almonds, grated cheese and a food processor or blender if you have one. If you don’t, use a mortar and pestle. It’s called pesto for a reason. Chopping all those ingredients on a cutting board would be a mess.

Fantastic weeknight meal! Didn’t find the chopping method too messy at all — it was faster and less effort than a mortar and pestle, and tastier than with a food processor. If you want to make it vegan, you can use vegan parm or nutritional yeast. You probably don’t want to skip it since helps form the paste and bind everything together.

What? There are plenty of recipes you can find that employ a blender or food processor. The whole point of this one is that it is done by hand. I find chopping, and pounding in a mortar and pestle, to be quite satisfying.

The technique made me grumpy but I made it as written except I didn’t smash and toss as directed (bits all over the counter), and it turned out great. Much more interesting texture than my usual pesto in the processor. Now my fave pesto

You can sneak a bit--or a lot--of kale into any pesto to boost nutrition. Nobody can tell, except for the mysterious added depth of flavor.

I enjoyed very much chopping the herbs together with the nuts and garlic clove. And it makes for a very tasty pesto with highlighted garlic flavor and great texture.

This was fun and easy to make, less like the usual pesto recipe and more like a great herby pasta dish with texture, crunch, and a rustic flavor. I used pine nuts and walnuts, chopped an anchovy in to the nuts and herbs mixture, and added lemon zest and lemon juice at the end for brightness. I used large tube pasta; all the peas and herby nuttiness filled up the tubes inside. Yum!

this was great. made as directed. only note (god forbid someone didn't have a note), I used a mezzaluna and chopping bowl. no mess, no scattering. they are fabulous tools.

1 clove of garlic for a pound of pasta?

The benefit of chopping is the amazing aromatherapy you get while cooking. It wasn't difficult, too messy, or too time consuming. Added some roasted chicken to up the protein. Will make this again.

I didn’t mind the raw garlic, but the rest of my family would have preferred it cooked. So one could chop the garlic and fry in olive oil over low medium heat for a minute or two to remove that bite. Otherwise, I liked this recipe. It was not difficult to chop the ingredients on a cutting board and saved the process of washing all the pieces of a food processor. Also, having slightly bigger chunks of nuts and herb created a nice texture.

I chopped until everything was rice grain sized, then put the mix from the cutting board into a Cuisinart work bowl. Much easier to clean than a food processor. Added half the cheese and half the oil, mixed it up good, then the rest. At the end, we needed a little more oil and some lemon. Makes a ton of pesto. We are going to try freezing the leftovers. We lived in Italy and find that American recipes use too much sauce for every pasta dish.

I like to add 2-4 cups of spinach, and I use 1/2 C of raw walnuts. 1/2 to 1 tsp salt. Rockin!

If pesto and gremolata had a child, it would be this sauce. We very much liked the flavors and textures of this dish. And the much commented-upon chopping was simple and not all that messy. It may just be me, but working with a knife in the kitchen is uniquely satisfying. Keep an eye on those pinches of kosher salt; with the cheese still to come, it doesn't take much to overdo it.

Perfect. I used my mezzalune on a large cutting board. Not messy at all. Pine nuts and walnuts, Parmesan and extra garlic and a shake of red pepper flakes. There were no peas in my freezer (surprise) but I had some fresh asparagus. The dish was delicious.

Love the texture so much...hence the hassle of chopping everything together.

I make half the recipe because there are only two of us. I always have a basil plant and pecans on hand so those are the herb and nut that I use. Delicious, easy, and a real keeper that I serve at least once a month.

Made this tonight with one third Italian parsley and two thirds basil. Toasted the pistachios and parboiled the garlic clove to take the raw taste out. The chopping was tedious, but the end result had a much better texture than pesto made in a mini-prep. Good taste and the peas are always a nice addition to almost any pasta dish.

My 9-year-old (who means well, but is VERY scatter-brained) was set on making dinner for the family, and opted for this and a strawberry cream cheese tart... It turned out perfectly (with a small bit of guidance from me). We used fresh English peas instead of frozen since it's what we had, and everyone loved it. We made some minor adjustments to make it more palatable to her and my 6-year-old (slightly less garlic, more cheese), but pesto can handle any such modifications in my experience.

Sometimes, when I’m lucky, I get as much pleasure out of preparing the food as I do eating it. This was the case here. The toasted nut aroma, the smell of basil on my fingers, the satisfaction of using leftover, homemade gnocchi, and a refreshing beer along for the ride.

I love this dish! It is a regular when there are lots of greens and herbs in the farm box. Arugula is my favorite to use. I also love the chopping by hand. Easy and satisfying!

Love love love the texture which somehow improves the flavor. I made it in spring when I only had chives, a bit of parsley and mint and it was delicious. Now we have lots of basil and sage and I’ll make it again and add to freshly harvested potatoes for lunch tomorrow.

I chopped until everything was rice grain sized, then put the mix from the cutting board into a Cuisinart work bowl. Much easier to clean than a food processor. Added half the cheese and half the oil, mixed it up good, then the rest. At the end, we needed a little more oil and some lemon. Makes a ton of pesto. We are going to try freezing the leftovers. We lived in Italy and find that American recipes use too much sauce for every pasta dish.

Very good. Lots of chopping of various fresh herbs.

Made this last night and my husband really enjoyed it - even having the leftovers for breakfast! I adapted the recipe by using my own frozen garden pesto thinned with olive oil and a little pasta cooking water, added frozen baby peas to the colander when draining the pasta, and after mixing the pesto with pasta/pea mixture, seasoned with extra S&P, sprinkled about 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese over top and mixed well. Very quick and easy dish taking those shortcuts!

Rather than skin my entire basil plants bare, now I can grab a few handfuls from all my herb plants. Plus I can dial up different flavors based on what I'm in the mood for. Comes together quickly, and I don't have to clean my food processor. Loved it.

This is so good! After having a long day, I almost used a food processor for the pesto and I’m so glad I didn’t bc the texture and aroma of the hand chopped herbs made all the difference. And it didn’t take long at all! I even chopped the pecorino. I was on a roll! (did sprinkle with grated p cheese before serving, tho.) So beautiful and delicious. Will definitely be making this again. And again. P.s. Did leave out the nuts tho bc non mi piace.