Homemade Pasta with Peas, Bacon & Onion

Peas are finally here in NY, its late June. I just love fresh, garden peas, they are so wonderful raw or cooked. My daughter loves to help shuck them and she eats about a cup while doing it so we always have to buy extra. This recipe is so simple and so delicious, its beautiful with a intensely flavored grilled chicken thigh or pesto encrusted, pasture raised pork chop (which is what we served it with). The sauce is a mixture of grass-fed butter and salty bacon fat. This coats the homemade semolina pasta just beautifully and goes so well with the fresh, sweet peas and sharp onions. I love the combination of herbs too, thyme, sage and chives are all earthy and make for such a flavorful pasta. A small squeeze of fresh lemon juice over the final dish bumps up all the flavors and makes a most refreshing and delicious dish! So easy to whip up any day of the week, even with the homemade pasta! Get my recipe and tips here on making pasta at home, its incredibly easy and so worth the effort.

This recipe makes 8 side dish servings, or 6 main dish servings.

Ingredients

Homemade pasta, click the link for my recipe.
1 Cup fresh organic peas, blanched.*
1 Small organic onion, diced.
3 Cloves organic garlic, minced or grated.
3 Pieces pasture raised bacon, chopped.
1 Tbsp pasture raised bacon fat
2 Tbsp grass-fed butter
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste.
Few sprigs fresh, organic thyme, leaves only, chopped.
4 Fresh, organic sage leaves, chopped.
Small bunch fresh, organic chives, left whole.
1 Lemon, sliced into wedges, optional.
1/2 Cup parmesan cheese, grated, any hard, salty cheese can be used.

Directions

Make the pasta and set aside on a wax paper lined baking sheet, make sure to flour the pasta strands well to keep them dry and separated. Cover with a towel while waiting for the water to boil. Bring a large stock pot to boil with salted water.

While waiting for the water to boil heat a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add in the bacon fat and butter till melted. Add in bacon and cook till crisp. Once crisp, turn down the heat and add in the onions, peas, garlic, sea salt and pepper. Cook till the onions are soft, about 6 minutes. Add in the chopped thyme and sage, cook for an additional minute.

Once the water boils add in the fresh pasta and cook for 3 to 4 minutes just until soft and starts to float. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water. Drain pasta. Add pasta water to the hot saute, sauce pan and scrape the bottom. Mix to create a sauce. Add cooked pasta into the sauce pan and mix to coat all pasta. Move to a large serving dish top with chives, I snip these with scissors over the top. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

I like to serve with a wedge of lemon.

*I blanch the peas first by boiling them for 2 minutes and then placing them in an ice bath. This makes them tender and keeps them vibrantly green.