Spinach-Pea Penne

Last night, Jeremy and I went to Exotic Meat Night at a friend's place.  Since we had so much meat last night, we decided to go vegetarian tonight.  This has a small amount of chicken stock in it. To make it completely vegetarian, just add water instead.

I had some fresh baby spinach that needed to be used up.  It wasn't in the best of shape so I didn't want to eat it plain so I decided to make a sauce out of it.  I made this bit by bit tasting as I went along until I got it to the right taste and texture.  Overall, this was a nice healthy sauce and was a nice change from a normal tomato sauce for pasta.  If I have some pine nuts next time, I might try adding them as it would add a nice nutty flavor to the sauce too.

This sauce tasted completely different cold... and was great once I put it on the pasta and it heated up.  I used whole wheat penne for this as I usually don't buy non-whole-wheat pasta.  The tomatoes I added right at the end added a nice acidity to it and added another nice flavor and texture.  But it certainly would have been good without the tomatoes too.

Recipe:
1 1/2 c. baby spinach
1/2 c. flat leave parsley
1/2 c. frozen peas
1 tsp. minced garlic (1-2 cloves)
1/2 c. chicken stock (or water)
1/3 - 1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c. parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flake
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
13 oz. pasta (I used whole wheat penne)
1 tomato, diced

1. Place chicken stock, spinach, parsley, garlic, salt, crushed red pepper, black pepper, and nutmeg in a blender. Blend until it begins to puree.
2. Drizzle olive oil into the blender while it's running. Continue to blend until a smooth emulsion forms.
3. While blender is off, add peas and parmesan. Blend again until the mixture is smooth and you no longer have pieces of peas.
4. Heat a large pot of water over high heat. When it boils, cook pasta according to package. Drain and return to pan.
5. Pour sauce over the pasta. Heat over low heat until the sauce is hot.
6. Serve topped with diced tomato.