(Scroll down for a complete Father's Day menu, shopping list, and accompanying recipes.)
I am pleased to present my first recipe as a member of Barefoot Thursdays, a twice monthly blogger's group dedicated to recreating the Barefoot Contessa's delectable recipes at home. You already know I have Ina envy. (You can read about that here.) Join in and make Ina's irrestible meals for your family on the cheap.
I can't resist creating a healthier profile for some of Ina's notoriously decadent dishes. If you want to celebrate life and throw caution to the wind, you can make Ina's recipe this way.
Lightened Up Pasta, Pesto, and Peas
Estimated Cost: $5.00 for a tremendously huge batch
Notes: Homemade pesto would be best here, if you have the time-and the basil.
1 lb. medium pasta shapes (I used a combo of farfalle and campanelle)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup prepared pesto (I used Classico in a jar)
1 (10 ounce package) frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
juice of one lemon
heaping 1/3 cup mayonnaise or whole milk yogurt
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shaved or grated
1 and 1/2 cups frozen peas, defrosted
Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking liquid. Toss with olive oil and cool to room temperature. In the bowl of a blender or food processor, combine reserved cooking liquid, pesto, spinach, lemon juice, and mayonnaise. Add the pesto mixture to the cooled pasta and season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with pine nuts, if desired.
Coming Tomorrow:
Grilled Rib Eye Steak with Horseradish Thyme Compote...
I just love Ina Garten's recipes Prudy! I have all her cookery books. Have you tried her peam pesto and spinach salad? It's really yummy! I love how you figure cost into things. It's a big help!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea for Father's Day! I like the combination of pasta you used.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog! What fun! Great take on Ina's recipe, fellow BB!
ReplyDeleteWhen you made yours did you use the yogurt or mayo? I like the yogurt idea. Yours looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteYour pasta looks wonderful! I just took a Ina cookbook out from the library (I like to preview cookbooks before I buy them:)
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your recipe tomorrow.
Nice adaptation! It looks great!
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ReplyDeleteI have Ina jealously too, lol. Great job lightening it up- it looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteYour Barefoot Bloggers salad turned out beautifully. I forgot to add the parmesan to mine, for the pic, and then remembered it afterward. Your shaves of parmesan on top look so much tastier than my pitiful litting shreds.
ReplyDeleteAlso love your blog ... need to spend some time looking around now.
Ooh, I'm definitely tossing some grilled chicken in with all these leftovers. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYour pasta looks so good! Your blog is great, I'm looking forward to reading more of your recipes.
ReplyDeleteLooks so good! I'm glad someone else is making these recipes a bit more healthful.
ReplyDeleteyum. i am a big fan of ina's and have seen her make this pasta dish before on barefoot contessa. i love how you lightened it up. since i have some basil in my garden and could make this for even less moolah, i'm going to try it out on next week's menu (we're doing baby back ribs and roasted mashed potatoes on dad's day.)
ReplyDeleteHow fun, an Ina Garten group?! I haven't heard about that one yet. Your pasta looks superb! Ina is definitely one of my favorites. Great post!
ReplyDeleteDoesn't Ina just make you want to curl up on one of her couches in her gorgeous home and have her serve you her wonderful food on a beautiful tray? Then wander out to her patio at sunset for a little espresso and a luscious dessert?
ReplyDeleteYeah, she's magic!
And so is this recipe!
Did you use yogurt? I thought about it and would be curious!
ReplyDeleteLooks great!
ReplyDelete$5! It's amazing what you can do. Peas & pesto are an amazing combo.
ReplyDeleteDon't you love The Barefoot Contessa?
ReplyDeleteI love all her cookbooks, recipes, and show.
She cracks me up with Jeffrey, her husband.
She loves him and practically smothers him on her show. And of course, I laugh and have to imitate her deep, hearty laugh.
All right, I love pasta and I love pesto. Can't wait to try it. Maybe Ina could sing this song on her show.
"I love pesto, I love peas, but I love Jeffrey more than these."
I wish you had cable or dish or whatever they call it these days, so you could see Ina with him.
I'll imitate her for you next time I see you.
I'm tempted to join this group having "Ina envy" myself, but my excuse is mt thighs just would not be forgiving of her heavy recipes that often. Seeing your light version is giving me second thoughts. I can't wait to try your take on it!
ReplyDeletepesto pesto do your very besto! Do it with a bing bang bong! This looks soooo good! This is right up my alley! Thanks so much for lightening it up! I love Ina, but I'm afraid to eat like she does! Since Ina loves Jeffrey so much, maybe we should all make this for our husbands on Sunday and then smother them all day long, just like Ina does!
ReplyDeleteI love your blog! I just discovered it through Barefoot Bloggers. Your Pasta, Pesto and Peas looks great!
ReplyDeleteyummm! Your version sounds so tasty! Love your pics!
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful pictures--it turned out great. I considered yogurt but wasn't sure how it would turn out. Fantastic job!
ReplyDeleteHey Erin, If you love me as much as you say you do....Will you make your oldest non cooking sister the pasta dish, it looks so delicious!!
ReplyDeleteYum! I just joined the Barefoot Bloggers too and just printed the recipe for later this month.
ReplyDeleteHurray!
I have to join! Yum!
ReplyDeleteso i made this over the weekend. i have been choosing menus that will push my kids to try new things, particularly things with a high vegetable content. it helped that i let them get good and hungry before dinner, but they all ate this. the only thing that some of them picked out was the pine nuts. hooray!
ReplyDeletei did use a bit more spinach than called for (a 16 oz bag of frozen instead of 10 oz), and a homemade pesto that is lighter than store bought. i also used the whole milk yogurt, with one tablespoon of mayo, which was marvelous. it made enough sauce to save some extra for another dish.
thanks for posting this, particularly for lightening ina's throw-caution-to-the-wind recipe.
Thanks for posting this. I have made Ina's Pesto Pea Salad (Spinach, Peas, Pesto, Pinenuts - no pasta) recipe several times and was making it for Father's Day. I had leftover salad, so I threw in some chicken and pasta and served leftovers of Ina's Garlic & Herb Tomatoes on top of everything. Fabulous. (I love the blog. I'm here because of Michal and I'm so glad she posted about you!)
ReplyDeleteHi there! Not sure if I've ever thanked you for visiting my blog...but Thank You!
ReplyDeleteI'm loving yours by the way...=)
And...I'm a big Barefoot Contessa fan, I've made this dish a few times and LOVE it! I've got lots of basil right now so I think I may be making it again soon! Your pics have me craving it!