Snap Pea Pesto

I could have sworn my friend Kara told me about snap pea pesto and I'd been dying to try it since last summer and have been anxiously waiting for my snap peas to come out. When I asked her about it, she had no idea. Maybe I dreamed  it? Either way, I tried it out last night. Yum! It's really simple and fresh and summery.

Serves 2-4
Ingredients:
2 cups snap peas (pull off the strings)
4 basil leaves
1/2 large or 1 whole small clove of garlic, mashed into a paste with some kosher salt
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 cup-1 cup grated Pecorino Romano or Parm
pasta (I used gemelli)
Directions:
Cook the snap peas in boiling water. After 2 minutes, take out 3/4 of them. Puree in a food processor with garlic, basil, cheese, and some olive oil. (Probably 2-3 tbsp.) Season to taste with salt and pepper. When the remaining peas have cooked another 2 minutes, take them out and roughly chop them.

Cook the pasta, drain, then toss with the pea pesto and the peas, adding more olive oil and some of the pasta water if you need it. Top with grated Pecorino.

(Those are sauteed beet greens on the side - also delicious! I sauteed a big garlic clove with the stems and the baby beets I'd picked and added about tsp of sugar and some red pepper flakes. Then added the beet greens, roughly chopped, with a little water until the wilted. Yum! Spicy and sweet to offset the bitterness.)