Recipe Background
Spring is coming! What better way to celebrate than with Spring Pasta & Peas — a creamy seasonal celebration of all that is green and bright! With golden, crispy, and succulent bites of pancetta, tender penne pasta, and sweet green peas in a cheesy, luscious sauce, Spring Pasta & Peas puts more than just a spring in your step! In fact, you'll be bouncing with joy!
Spring is coming! What better way to celebrate than with Spring Pasta & Peas — a creamy seasonal celebration of all that is green and bright! With golden, crispy, and succulent bites of pancetta, tender penne pasta, and sweet green peas in a cheesy, luscious sauce, Spring Pasta & Peas puts more than just a spring in your step! In fact, you'll be bouncing with joy!
Ingredients
For the pasta:
- 4 ounces pancetta chopped
- 1 (16-ounce) box mini or regular penne pasta
- 1 1/2 cups frozen green peas
- 2 large shallots chopped
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 (8-ounce) container mascarpone cheese room temperature
- 1 cup parmesan cheese grated
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Optional, for topping:
- black pepper to taste
- parmesan cheese to taste, grated
- 1/2 cup fresh basil torn
Directions
- In a large sauté pan over medium heat, add the pancetta and cook, while stirring, until the fat has rendered and the pancetta is golden and crispy, about 5-7 minutes.
- Transfer the pancetta to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain.
- Reserve 2 tablespoons of the rendered fat in the sauté pan, draining the remainder.
- In a large pot of salted, boiling water, add the penne pasta and cook it 1 minute less than al dente, according to the package directions. In the last 2 minutes of cooking, add the peas to the pasta water.
- Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water, draining the remainder.
- In the sauté pan over medium heat, heat the reserved rendered fat.
- Add the shallots, the salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of the black pepper and cook, while stirring, until the shallots are soft and golden, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add the wine to the shallot mixture and cook, while stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to release the browned bits, until the wine is reduced by about half.
- Reduce the heat to low.
- Add the mascarpone cheese to the wine mixture and whisk to combine.
- Add about 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water to loosen the wine mixture.
- Add 1 cup of the parmesan cheese to the sauce mixture and whisk to combine.
- Add the pasta and the peas to the sauce mixture and fold to combine.
- Allow the pasta to simmer in the sauce until it is al dente and the sauce is silky. If the sauce seems too thick, add the remaining reserved pasta water, a little at a time, until it reaches the desired consistency.
- Add the pancetta and the lemon juice to the sauce mixture.
- Serve hot with the extra black pepper, the extra parmesan cheese, and the basil.
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