Winter is officially over! The sun is out, the plants are blooming, the birds are singing, all that jazz. Spring is finally, truly here. SO we're going to take a step away from the slow cooking, heavy meals of the winter and try something a little lighter and fresher: spring pea asparagus ricotta ravioli.
First of all, this dish takes barely twenty minutes from start to finish. Spring time win!!! Leaves you more time to get your house to Marie Kondo status amiright? We're almost there...🤣. Little by little we're getting organized!
Second, this spring pea asparagus ricotta ravioli uses a fresh, homemade basil pesto as a sauce. No heavy tomato base here! We're keeping this recipe as light and airy as the season itself. Still with plenty of cheese of course 😎.
Which brings me to my third and final point, RICOTTA! I love ricotta cheese so much that I like to just throw it on my pasta in chunks and then chow down. If you havn't tried this before, it's heavenly.
To recap: spring pea asparagus ricotta ravioli is made in just 20 minutes, coated in an easy peezy pesto sauce, and topped with delicious hunks of ricotta cheese.
...YES please! Recipe below 👍🏻.
Spring Pea Asparagus Ricotta Ravioli
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 3-4 1x
Description
Enjoy the freshest produce of the season with this 20 minute vegetarian pasta dish!
Ingredients
For the Pasta
- 20 ounces cheese blend ravioli (I used a three cheese ravioli)
- 1 cup asparagus, sliced into 1 inch pieces (woody ends removed)
- 1 lb English peas, shells sliced open*
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 2 tablespoons dry white wine or 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- Salt, pepper to taste
- Fresh thyme leaves for garnish
For the Basil Pesto (Makes about 1 cup)
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon pine nuts
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt, pepper to taste
Get Recipe Ingredients
Instructions
- Make the pesto: Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until completely combined. Set aside.
- Cook ravioli according to box instructions. Save ¼ cup of the pasta water. Drain ravioli and set aside.
- While ravioli is cooking, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add asparagus and English peas to the pan. Cook for 4-5 minutes, until somewhat softened, stirring frequently.
- Pour white wine into the pan and cook off for 1 minute, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan.
- Add pesto and stir until coated. Remove from heat.
- Add cooked ravioli back to the pan and stir to combine. Add 1 tablespoon of pasta water at at time until pesto sauce reaches desired consistency (I used about 2 ½ tablespoons of pasta water). Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Plate as desired and top with small spoonfuls of ricotta cheese and fresh thyme leaves.
Notes
The shells of English pea pods are on the tougher side, even when cooked. I like the way they look when in their shell but only the peas are really for eating. If you'd rather skip cutting each pod open, you can absolutely use regular, shelled peas straight out of the freezer. Use about 1 cup and simply wait to add them until step 5 when you add the pesto into the pan.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
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