So how did I miss this technique?

[Mike Filigenzi]

I found myself this evening with an extra kid visiting, some pasta, some pea greens, and very little ambition. My wife happened to be thumbing through a cookbook by Sarah Raven and came across a recipe for farfalle with chard. What was interesting about this one was that she had you cook the chard in its own moisture, wring it out, heat it with creme fraiche, parmigiano, and nutmeg, and then hit it with an immersion blender before tossing it with the pasta. Sounded good, so I did the following:

- Threw the rinsed pea greens in a saucepan with a little oil and cooked them until they were tender
- Dumped the greens into a colander and pressed them with a wooden spoon to get as much moisture out as possible
- Put some cream (3/4 - 1 cup or thereabouts) into the saucepan and heated it up
- Dumped the greens back in with about a half cup grated parmigiano and 2 T butter
- Cooked and stirred for a few minutes until the cheese melted in and the cream was good and hot
- Hit it with the immersion blender. This was interesting as it didn't really puree. It basically chopped the greens very finely and mixed them well with the cream and the cheese
- Threw in about 1/4 cup of diced Spanish chorizo, S&P, and a healthy pinch of cayenne. Tossed it with cooked, drained penne and served.

This was great. It maintained the pea flavor of the greens nicely and best of all, we got a nice homogeneous mix of greens and pasta. When I've made pasta with greens in the past, the greens have often sunk to the bottom of the pan, making it difficult to mix them in with the pasta. That problem is completely eliminated by the blender. I can't believe I haven't come across this before - it works so well.

[Jenise]

That sounds GOOD. Did you use the baby shoots or were your greens the more mature version the Chinese call 'pea leaves'? I'm guessing the former because I don't think the vine part of the pea leaves would break up, even with an immersion blender.

[Mike Filigenzi]

That sounds GOOD. Did you use the baby shoots or were your greens the more mature version the Chinese call 'pea leaves'? I'm guessing the former because I don't think the vine part of the pea leaves would break up, even with an immersion blender.

Y'know, I'm not real sure about that. The stems were hollow and about 1/4" in diameter but very tender. They broke up just fine. The leaves were the up to the size of large basil leaves or a bit bigger. I picked them up in an Asian market, for what that's worth.

[Jenise]

Okay, that would be leaves not shoots. Helps to know that they ground up that well.

[Christina Georgina]

Never thought of it till I read your post but it does open up a whole lot of options using different greens and intense reductions for the cream. Just harvested 5# of watercress; the sorrel is rampant and the ramps are at their peak - a full month earlier than last year. Asparagus getting very fat. Wild arugula is invading the lawn and I couldn't be happier :-} Seeing pasta sauces in everything .....

[Cynthia Wenslow]

Just harvested 5# of watercress; the sorrel is rampant and the ramps are at their peak - a full month earlier than last year. Asparagus getting very fat. Wild arugula is invading the lawn and I couldn't be happier

Gosh, Christina, I used to like you.