Coming back from vacation usually means not wanting to cook. Occasionally I miss being in the kitchen while I’m traveling but as soon as I get home, I miss the convenience of eating every meal out. It’s a tough life.

Yesterday night I decided to make this pesto, pea, and prosciutto pasta. In addition to being alliterative, it’s also delicious and relatively easy to make. I guess it’s not as easy as just eating noodles with red sauce, but a little more work produces something much more appealing.

I’ve found that there are generally two pesto camps: One that likes lots of garlic, and one that doesn’t. I fall into the latter camp. I’m already kind of sensitive to garlic so when people toss in three or more cloves, I feel like I’m going to puke. I remedy that by only adding one clove (or honestly, none) when I’m making it at home. I think the star of pesto is the basil and olive oil, anyway. The fresher those two ingredients are, the better your pesto will be.

I topped this pasta with some pulled prosciutto, peas, and extra Parmesan cheese. You can use your garden variety Parm and frozen peas, but I’d recommend for springing for good quality prosciutto. It will add an extra dimension to the dish and you’ll have leftovers once you open the package, so you can use it for dishes throughout the week including paninis or omelettes.

As a side note, I wrote an article recently about pasta names. “Farfalle,” or the pasta I used in this dish, means “butterflies.” I can see why. Other pasta names are not as intuitive, though. One apparently means “priest-strangler.” You can get the full rundown here.

Here’s a song that reminds me of this pasta. I heard it in Seattle when I was at the Museum of Pop Culture. It made me remember how much I like Keith Urban. Also, can we talk about that guitar riff at the beginning?

Pesto, Pea, and Prosciutto Pasta

Ingredients

1 box of farfalle pasta, cooked to package directions
1 bag of frozen peas, cooked
2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup good quality olive oil
squeeze of juice from half a lemon
1/2 cup pine nuts
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 slices of prosciutto, torn

Directions

Start by making the pesto. Combine the basil leaves, olive oil, lemon juice, pine nuts, garlic, and Parmesan cheese in a food processor. Pulse until the texture is smooth and the sauce is very green.

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Mix in the pesto and peas. Top with prosciutto and more grated Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!