Pasta with Green Vegetables and Herbs

Description

Mixing aromatic herbs like mint and basil with asparagus and peas creates a beautiful green dish. Salty feta sparks it up.

ChupaNote: the only change I made to this recipe was to replace the black pepper with 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes. I ended up sprinkling more on the finished dish. I used whole wheat pasta.

• Source: Gourmet, Quick Kitchen, June 2007
• Formatted by Chupa Babi in MC: 06.20.07
• Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 pound thin asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1½-inch pieces
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 pound linguine
• 2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
• 1 cup packed fresh mint leaves
• ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ¾ teaspoon black pepper
• 4½ ounces feta, crumbled (1 cup)
• ½ cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced

Procedures

1. Cook asparagus in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling well-salted water until just tender, 4 to 6 minutes.
2. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a large heatproof bowl, then add peas to boiling water and cook 2 minutes.
3. Transfer peas with slotted spoon to bowl with asparagus, then add linguine to boiling water and cook until al dente.
4. While linguine cooks, pulse basil, mint, oil, salt, pepper, and ½ cup feta in a food processor until chopped, then add to vegetables.
5. Reserve ½ cup pasta-cooking water, then drain pasta in a colander.
6. Stir reserved cooking water into vegetables, then add pasta, parsley, scallions, and remaining ½ cup feta and toss.