Meatless Monday: Creamy pasta with spinach and peas

Jul 02, 2012 3:45 PM by Patricia Conte

Posted in Food & Recipes / Healthy Recipes & Nutrition / Meatless Recipes

Dish Up A Plate!

Pasta is a great go-to meal for when you’re in a pinch, and also when you’re looking for something easy but out of the ordinary. Sometimes the two go hand-in-hand like this Meatless Monday recipe for creamy pasta with spinach and peas.

Meatless Monday: Creamy pasta with spinach and peas

What’s old is new

A staple item like pasta can sometimes lose its shine, simply because it’s something you know you can easily turn to for help putting together a hearty and tasty meal. Pasta doesn't have to get boring! For a new way to serve pasta, try this recipe for creamy pasta with spinach and peas.

Try this meatless recipe for pasta with anchovy-walnut sauce >>

The greens add loads of veggies and color, and the cream adds just the right touch of something special. For a Meatless Monday, this is an easy meal to put together, but it won’t bore you since it’s a change of pace from plain pasta sauce.

Everyone’s doing it!

Seems like everyone, even meat-eating famous chefs like Michael Symon, are going meatless on Mondays (or another day of the week). In a recent interview, Chef Symon had this to say:

“I’m like, look, I’m not saying beef and pork is bad, I love it and I eat it six days a week, but one day a week – and quite frankly given my schedule, it’s not always Monday – I just remove meat from my diet. I think it gives the earth a second to breathe and gives my body time to do what it needs to do.”

Read more from Chef Symon's interview and also find out a bit more about Meatless Monday.

Creamy pasta with spinach and peas

Serves 4

Ingredients:

3/4 pound of small-to-medium-sized pasta, like orecchiette
8 ounces of fresh or frozen peas (thawed slightly if frozen)
10 ounces of fresh baby spinach
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper, or to taste
1/4 cup toasted walnuts for garnish

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the pasta and cook just a few minutes less than what the package directions recommend.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the olive oil. Next add the spinach and allow it to wilt. When wilted, add the peas and garlic and mix together well.
Season the mixture with the salt and pepper and remove from the heat.
When the pasta is finished, drain the water (reserve about 1/2 cup of the cooking water) and return the pasta to the pot.
Add the heavy cream to the spinach mixture over medium-high heat.
When the cream begins to bubble, add the drained pasta to the skillet and mix well.
Add the Parmesan cheese, and some of the reserved cooking water, just to thin the sauce. Mix everything until well-coated and warmed through.
Serve on individual plates and garnish with the toasted walnuts.

Meatless Monday is the perfect day of the week to find new ideas for meatless main dish meals!

More Meatless Monday recipes to try

Baked eggplant marinara
Pasta e fagioli (pasta and beans)
Zucchini ribbons and raisins pizza

Tags: easy recipes meatless monday recipes pasta recipes

Comments

Comments on "Meatless Monday: Creamy pasta with spinach and peas"

Thanks, Kate! This really is a great dish and it even doubles up on veggies!

This sounds so good! I have a handful of pasta and spinach that I have been meaning to use. Although it is a meatless Monday recipe you could easily add meat to this dish to make it a little heartier. Yum!