Spaghetti and peas

(PUB)

Peas weren’t on my list of favorites as a child. I saw peas in a warmer light only after I gathered some wrinkles and dark circles around my eyes (eh, if everything were so simple…). If it’s not their season, I prefer frozen peas, which are easy to work with and I see them as being much more lively than the canned ones. If it is their season, like it is now, I run to the market (or I walk slowly, given my age) and I buy fat green pods which I then like to split with my nails in order to release the delicious, pulpy, lively green prisoners.

After running the half marathon on Sunday, on Monday I woke up with a hunger that called for necessary measures. It might seem that I exaggerated, but know that after eating everything you read below, I feel good and willing to take a recovery walk. Therefore, for one serving I used 100 grams of Barilla No 5 spaghetti – number 1 in Italy (they are exclusively made from durum wheat flour, they are not sticky and they don’t leave room for error as long as you respect the recommendations on the pack and they taste exactly how I enjoy dried pasta , the same taste that I know from the ‘90s, when I was introduced to Barilla No 5), 100 grams of peas, 150 grams of tomato passata, one garlic clove, a chunk of hot pepper, just a little bit of olive oil, a leaf of basil, salt, pepper and two tablespoons of the water in which the pasta was boiled.

I put the pasta to boil in water and salt (don’t forget, plenty of water and 7 grams of salt for each liter of water) and, in the meantime, I scalded the peas.

No more thank three or four minutes, because it’s raw and it would be a shame to ruin its youth. To enjoy its color even more, I rapidly washed it with very cold water. If I had some ice, I would have left the peas in water with ice for 2-3 minutes.

When the peas were ready, I put a bit of oil, the crushed garlic clove and the hot pepper chunk in a skillet, on medium heat.

I slightly browned the garlic and the pepper (careful, there’s a big difference between browning and burning, if the heat is too high or if you keep the garlic for too long on high het, the oil become bitter and smell becomes unpleasant) and I added the peas to the skillet.

I immediately added the passata, the salt and the pepper. As soon as the sauce started boiling, I added the boiled pasta and a bit of the water in which it boiled.

I stirred well, I kept the skillet on the stove for 35-45 second and then I transferred the content to a plate with grated parmesan and a few drops of extra virgin olive oil, both adding to the consistency of the sauce once I mixed the pasta a bit in the plate.