Barefoot Contessa’s Pasta, Pesto, and Peas

We were at a potluck this summer on Kauai and my Auntie Lindsay brought this AMAZING pesto pasta salad. I told her I just had to have the recipe before I left to go back to Colorado and sure enough, I was given a recipe card for it within a few days. The recipe card that she had written out for me said that the pasta salad comes from the Barefoot Contessa Parties! Cookbook, which is why I didn’t know it- I have yet to get that cookbook (although I do have 3 Barefoot Contessa Cookbooks!) Anyway, all I could think about for the rest of the trip was this pasta salad and a few days after we got back to Colorado, I went to the store, bought all the ingredients, and made it for a potluck party of my own. I modified the recipe from the original just a bit, due to the fact that I didn’t read the ingredients and directions carefully enough- I think I was just so excited to make it! I really liked how it turned out, so I have been making it my way ever since. My boyfriend is not a big fan of vegetarian dishes, and he loves this pasta salad! His favorite part is the pine nuts. 

This pasta salad is a great dish to serve when you are BBQ’ing along with chicken, steak, hamburgers, or hot dogs. It’s now a summertime favorite of ours and I think today’s summerlike weather is what inspired me to make it! Since St. Patrick’s day is on Tuesday, I thought I would make this to be festive too since it is so green! We had it for dinner tonight and will eat the leftovers all week long!

Here is the recipe with my modifications:

Ingredients:

• 12 oz box penne pasta
• 12 oz box bow tie pasta
• 2 packages store bought pesto
• 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1  bag frozen peas, defrosted
• 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Directions:

1. Cook the pasta all together in a large pot of boiling water according to package directions. This will take about 10 to 12 minutes. 
2. Drain and rinse pasta in cold water so that pasta is a cool room temperature. Place in a large bowl (the largest you have since there is a lot to mix together – I actually use a huge pot for the mixing together of all the ingredients).
3. Using a blender (what I do) or food processor, puree the pesto, spinach, and lemon juice. Add the mayonnaise and puree in. 
4. Add the pesto mixture to the cooled pasta and then add the Parmesan, peas, and pine nuts. 
5. Mix everything together well and serve at room temperature. I think the pasta tastes better the colder it is, so I will try to chill it for a few hours before serving if I can, but it’s not the end of the world if I’m not able to. 

As noted above, I make a few personal modifications to the original recipe. Specifically, I use penne instead of fusilli pasta, omit all of the olive oil, use a bit less mayonnaise, and don’t use any salt and pepper since I think the pesto has so much flavor as it is. I also use store bought pesto- someday I will learn how to make my own pesto, but for the time being it’s so easy to buy them at the store, so why not? My version cuts a few calories and I don’t notice any difference in the flavor- try it and see what you think!