Spinach & Pea Pesto Linguini with Three Cheeses & the Sheena Metal Experience

 

All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2012

Yesterday – the heat was downright uncivilized.  Well over 100 degrees – ALL DAY.  I have no AC in my house so my three dogs & I walked around with our tongues hanging out while experiencing a sometimes vague and sometimes overwhelming sense of claustrophobic panic.    I had to do an interview at 6pm in the valley which meant driving even deeper into the inferno but my car has AC & I was pretty certain the radio studio would, too, so I was counting the seconds until I could leave.  Around 5pm – I was starving but it was way too hot to try to cook anything & I didn’t have time to eat anyway.  Still – like we all do – I looked in my fridge for things I knew were not in there.  A fridge which, incidentally, required a major repair this week.  My house is beginning to have too many things in common with Grey Gardens in general – a course I am temporarily powerless to reverse – but a fridge that lets a gorgeous burrata sour in the span of a day is just unacceptable.  A girl has to eat!  Even if she has to eat amidst squalor & ruin – much of it caused by bad, bad dogs – she still has to eat.  And cook.  And write about it.  And stuff.  So I called Wilshire Refrigeration – and the repairman arrived in a few hours to break the terrible news to me.  My 15 year old Sub-Zero had a cancer – a leaking freon coil thingamajigga & it had to be cut out.  I was told by my friend that had recommended Wilshire Refrigeration to me – that I was likely to get very timely, competent & friendly service – and I DID – but he also warned me that I would likely walk funny for a few days afterward.  And I can report to you now that a $1000 repair bill DOES somehow feel like an ass rape.  But so does a fridge full of warm beer & rotting dairy, mayo & eggs.  So – $1000 later and after bidding adieu to the repair guy – I walked – like a bowlegged cowboy – back to my kitchen to put everything that was salvageable back into my restored chilling appliance.

But I digress.  At 5 last night – I glanced in my fridge for a snack.  There was nothing that fit the bill but there was a collection of ingredients that I spontaneously decided would whip nicely into a cool pesto that I could mix into pasta upon my return from the interview.  I had 10-15 minutes before I had to leave so – I made the following delightful concoction:

PRINT THIS RECIPE

Spinach & Pea Pesto Pasta with Three Cheeses

serves 2 (Use more pasta to feed however many you have.)

INGREDIENTS

4 packed cups fresh spinach

1 packed cup fresh basil

2 cup frozen peas – 1 cup for the pesto – 1 cup for the pasta

1/2 cup olive oil

water – 1/4 cup or more

2 oz goat cheese

2 oz feta cheese

(or 4 oz of either one – Goat or Feta)

Fresh mozzarella (the stuff stored in water) – to taste – diced

4 cloves garlic

1/2 tomato – diced (more if you are feeding more than 2)

fresh parsley – chopped

S&P to taste

1/2 lb dried pasta

DIRECTIONS

In a food processor blend the basil, spinach, garlic, olive oil, s&p, feta, goat cheese, 1 cup of peas – adding only as much water as you need to get the proper consistency.

NOTE – This will make 2-3 cups of this pesto – FAR more than you need for 1/2 lb pasta (which serves 2 – in my opinion).  In fact – it is way more than you need for the whole box of pasta.  So – use the extra on crostinis or as a condiment on sandwiches or as a base to a pizza or for just more pasta.

Cook your pasta according to the directions.  In the last minute or two – add 1 cup of the peas to the water.  Drain.

Put the pasta & cooked peas in a bowl & toss with a few tablespoons of the pesto.  Add more if you think it needs it.  Arrange the pasta on plates & top with a little more pesto, chopped tomato, chopped mozzarella & parsley.  And go heavy with the parsley.  It has a lovely, fresh taste & is not just a garnish!!!  🙂

After I whipped up the pesto – using unthawed frozen peas – I put it in the fridge for a $1000 chilling – and walked my aching ass to the car to head to the valley for my interview.

The radio studio is in Sherman Oaks.  The waiting room looks like this:

Pictures of past guests (like Noah Wyle & Mini Me) lined one wall.  After about 20 minutes of listening to an Irish author be interviewed just before me – I was called in for my part.  Sheena was SUPER duper nice, smart & funny.  The interview went as well as I could hope & I really enjoyed myself – both because of the civilized temperature in there & because of the charm of my hostess.  The entire interview can be heard HERE.  I show up at about the 62 minute mark.

Once that was done, I stepped outside into the smokey dusk (a fire was blazing near the Getty).

No surprise there was a fire as I wasn’t entirely sure I was safe from spontaneous combustion myself.  I got into my car & checked the temperature.

104!!  At 7pm!!!  Ugh.  Still – smog & fires make for pretty sunsets & nice light for photographs.

So – I cranked up the AC in the car & headed home to boil up some pasta & try my newest pesto creation.  And let me tell you – it was REALLY good!  And so easy!  And good for you!  So try it!!!

Cheers~