Spring Spaghetti with Spinach Pea Pesto

Published: Mar 4, 2016 · Modified: Oct 4, 2023 by Manju · This post may contain affiliate links · 41 Comments

This spring spaghetti with spinach pea pesto screams spring with its vibrant green color and the spinach pea pesto is a wonderful alternative to your regular pesto! Plus, its gluten free too!

4.75 from 8 votes

Prep 15

Cook 20

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This spring spaghetti with spinach pea pesto screams spring with its vibrant green color and the spinach pea pesto is a wonderful alternative to your regular pesto! Plus, its gluten free too!

Looks like we have made it to the better part of the year, spring!! Its pouring here and still a little cold here in Seattle, as I am typing this down but we have started getting our share of the sunny and warm-ish days here and there! So, yay!

The little guy is learning about seasons now and knows to name them and also know a few things about them, like there are flowers in spring, its sunny in summer, leaves fall in fall and there is snow in winter. But he has not quite grasped it all yet, I mean, he is just 3 years old, so on a sunny day, he asks me – Amma, is it summer today? So, the other day when I saw spring blossoms outside, I pointed it out to him and told him that spring is here. He got so excited and was randomly screaming – Its spring today!! – throughout the day. Although, he did ask me that, if it was spring today, is it going to be summer tomorrow? Well, from his perspective, it seems like a valid question. Yeah, we are going through that phase of a lot of questions being asked and us, trying to explain it to him in a way he understands. It is fun! Well, so far at least, because we have been able to answer his questions somewhat to his satisfaction.

I have taken this opportunity of him learning about seasons to explain to him about various food that is there during each season. So, I made this Spring Spaghetti for dinner one of these days and told him it that we were having Spring Spaghetti that night. And he asked, like the season? I said, Yes, just like the season. And just like each season has a different special thing to it, there are also special vegetables for each season and we are eating this spaghetti with green peas in it because it is a special vegetable for spring! I don’t quite know if he understood that, but I explained to him anyway. I think its good for the kids to have something to relate to the food they are eating, some story, especially if it is also about something else they are learning. Those little minds are trying to put several things together at this age and it helps to give them a little bit of brain food, now and then.

This Spring Spaghetti with Spinach Pea Pesto is one of the easiest things to make and if you are like me who dislikes pesto in general, because of the basil-walnut combo, you will love this, because it’s got a nice sweetness to it from the green peas and really smells so fresh like spring!

Welcome #Spring with this delicious Spring Spaghetti with Spinach Pea Pesto! #glutenfree #vegetarian #pasta

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Spring Spaghetti with Spinach Pea Pesto – The Recipe

Ingredients:

1 8oz packet of any gluten free pasta – I used Ancient harvest Quinoa Pasta
water, to cook the pasta
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup grated parmesan

For the Spinach Pea Pesto

2 cups chopped spinach
1 ½ cup frozen green peas, thawed
2 tablespoon pine nuts
¼ cup walnuts
¼ cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Cook the spinach and the green peas in boiling water for 3-4 mins, drain and keep aside. Keep aside about ½ cup of the cooked spinach – green peas. Puree the rest of the spinach-green peas with all the other ingredients for the pesto, except the olive oil. Once they have come together a little, add the olive oil with the food processor running.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in salted water, drain and keep aside.

Add the pesto to the hot drained pasta, mix well and serve with parmesan sprinkled on top.

📖 Recipe