With spring quickly approaching (at least I hope that it is), and those lovely, knobby spears of asparagus making their first appearance at the market, I quickly bought a bunch and hurried home to create a perfectly pleasing mid-week meal. And sometimes there is nothing that pleases a bourgie more than to sit down to an almost monochromatic meal.

Now this might appear to be the standard pasta pesto, slippery and smooth. But in actuality, it was Pea Pesto, making it all the more green, and all the more vernal. I started this pesto out with a bag of frozen peas, because really, who can bear to shuck all of those fresh ones. I simmered the peas in a 1/2 cup of chicken broth for flavor, and after they were cooked, put the entire contents, peas and broth, into the bowl of a food processor. In went just a few leaves of basil leaves (I didn’t want the peas to be overpowered by the basil), a touch of cream, about one tablespoon of olive oil, and a healthy dose of salt and pepper; then I processed until smooth.

With the addition of both the chicken broth and the cream, the sauce was velvety and smooth, the perfect consistency to gently coat a ribbon of pasta. To round out my green meal, I pan-fried the asparagus spears until they where just crisp-tender, and added the pea pesto, the cooked spaghetti noodles, some grated parmesan cheese, and a bit of the pasta cooking water, to lubricate and coat the noodles in sauce.

Adorned with slices of prosciutto, for an added saltiness, this pasta was otherwise, perfectly green. Sweet with the flavor of peas, slightly spiced with the addition of perfumey basil, maybe this pesto sauce was non-traditional, but it was a delightful addition to my repertoire of mid-week meals.