Ready in just 20 minutes, this pasta with green peas, parsley, lemon & creme fraiche is perfect for a busy mid-week meal. By the time your pasta is done cooking, the sauce is ready!
A 20-minute vegetarian pasta recipe
Life can get busy.
Sometimes, we don’t want to spend hours faffing about with dinner. We want something quick, easy, and effortless, something that’ll fill that hunger gap fast. Something that feels a bit healthy but still ticks the comfort food box.
This is that recipe.
Enjoy!
What you’ll need
- 400 grams of wheat spaghetti
- 2 tbsp pine nuts
- 1 brown onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 red chilli
- 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley
- 2/3 cup fresh peas
- 6 tbsp creme fraiche
- 4 tbsp Italian-style hard cheese
- 1 lemon
- salt & pepper, to taste
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Equipment
- chopping board
- kitchen knife
- wooden spoon
How to make it
1. Bring a large pan of water to a rapid boil along with 1 tablespoon of salt. Cook spaghetti for 10 minutes or until ‘al dente’. Reserve a ladleful of the pasta water for the sauce.
2. Toast your pine nuts in a dry frying pan over medium-high heat without any oil. Don’t turn your back on them, or they might burn!
3. Peel and finely dice the onion and garlic. Chop the chilli in half lengthwise, remove the seeds and finely chop. Roughly chop the parsley.
4. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Saute the onion for about five minutes until it begins to soften.
5. Add the garlic and chilli and cook for a further two minutes.
6. Add the peas and 6 tbsp of the reserved pasta water from Step 1. Cook for around five minutes or until the peas are cooked to your liking.
7. Stir in the creme fraiche, toasted pine nuts and half of the grated hard cheese. Season well with salt and pepper, and squeeze in the lemon juice.
8. Stir in the drained spaghetti. Toss well to coat with the sauce. Serve your power pasta with plenty of chopped parsley and the remaining grated hard cheese.
Tips for making this easy vegetarian pasta recipe
- Use less chilli if you prefer your dish to be milder in flavour, or if you’re a chilli fiend like me, use plenty!
- Leftovers reheat very well. Simply store any leftovers in your fridge until needed, then reheat in a dry pan over medium heat until piping hot.
- Cooking pasta ‘al dente’ means that it still retains some texture after cooking. Although it’s cooked through, it has a bit of solid bite.
- Adding salt to the pasta water raises the cooking temperature of the water, making it cook better, and it infuses the pasta with flavour.
- Don’t be tempted to ignore your pine nuts when they are toasting – keep stirring them as they will burn quickly. Remove them from the pan as soon as they are the right colour to stop the cooking process.
Recipe Difficulty Levels
Easy
Requires basic cooking skills and ingredients you most likely already have in your kitchen.
Moderate
Requires more experience, preparation and/or cooking time. You may have to source special ingredients.
Challenging
Recipes requiring more advanced skills and experience and maybe some special equipment.
20-Minute Pasta with Green Peas
Ingredients
- 400 grams dried spaghetti
- 2 tbsp pine nuts
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 brown onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 fresh red chilli to taste
- 1 bunch fresh parsley
- 100 grams fresh garden peas
- 5 tbsp crème fraiche
- 4 tbsp Grana Padano cheese
- Shetland sea salt to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 lemon
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Equipment
Instructions
- Bring a large pan of water to a rapid boil, along with 1 tablespoon of salt. Cook 400 grams dried spaghetti for 10 minutes or until ‘al dente’. Reserve a ladleful of the pasta water for the sauce.
- Toast 2 tbsp pine nuts in a dry frying pan over medium-high heat without any oil. Don’t turn your back on them, or they might burn!
- Peel and finely dice 1 brown onion and 2 garlic cloves. Chop the chilli in half lengthwise, remove the seeds and finely chop. Roughly chop the parsley.
- Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Saute the onion for about five minutes until it begins to soften.
- Add the garlic and 1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped, and cook for a further two minutes.
- Add 100 grams fresh garden peas and 6 tbsp of the reserved pasta water from Step 1. Cook for around five minutes or until the peas are cooked to your liking.
- Stir in 5 tbsp crème fraiche, the toasted pine nuts and half of 4 tbsp Grana Padano cheese. Season well with Shetland sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, and squeeze in the juice of 1 lemon.
- Stir in the drained spaghetti and 1 bunch fresh parsley, finely chopped2 tbsp olive oil. Toss well to coat with the sauce. Serve with plenty of chopped parsley and the remaining grated hard cheese.
Island Botanicals, Shetland
Looks absolutely delicious! Drooling
This looks so tasty and I definitely think that I could easily make a dairy free version xxx
I never have seen anything like this. If i don’t use olive oil is it test well? I will try this soon.
This looks delicious I need to have a go at recreating it I’m a bit of a pasta obsessive tbh!!
Power Pasta sounds delicious and what a great story behind it! As a mum who is always on the go I am a huge fan of meals that can be prepped and cooked with little time so this sounds perfect! Thanks for sharing xx
This looks yummy. And so simple to make. Plus I love pasta recipes with peas in them. Hugs Lucy xxxx
Oh I love this! My son has just become obsessed with peas too so I’ll make us this
This looks so nice!! I love pasta and could eat it everyday.
I’m such a pasta fan, and this one looks delicious and so easy to make – I love using HelloFresh recipes as they’re so easy to follow x
Food subscription boxes are great for trying new recipes without having to waste unused ingredients as well as for learning new cooking skills
Im always interested in these subscription boxes, Im just not sure they’d be suitable for my fussy brood!!
Meal subscriptions can make cooking from scratch so much easier, especially if you’re having to relearn cooking in a different kitchen x
This sounds so delicious! I could eat past everyday especially one that has some amazing veggies in it!
I’m always on the hunt for new pasta recipe and this sounds AND looks like an absolute winner! Can’t wait to try 🙂
I’m loving that here are peas in this pasta!
I’ve never heard of this pasta recipe but it looks delicious. I have peas from my garden which I could use to make this dish! Can’t wait to try it! Pinning for later!
Looks like a delicious easy pasta. Good luck cooking with gas. It is a long time since I had an electric stovetop and I would miss my gas. I can’t get my head around electric burners which stay hot after you turn them off – I love gas is instant on and instant off!