Pea & Pesto Soup and Rosemary-Garlic Pasta

Au Revoir

Last night our kitchen was pretty low on ingredients because tonight we're going for 2 weeks to Mormoiron and Sorede in the south of France!
Coincidentally, Stone Soup's latest blog post was about using up pantry ingredients and cooking when you have little to work with, such as when you return from a holiday. 
I knew for a fact that we had a tub of homemade pesto that would be spoiled by the time we got back, so that needed to be used.
We always have peas in the freezer, we had a bit of rosemary and we always have some pasta and garlic. 
Perfect. All the ingredients needed for a Rosemary-garlic pasta and a Pea & Pesto soup, which were both conveniently published in Stone Soup's newsletter. 
These 2 recipes cannot be easier and they're really satisfying. They are meant to be separate, but we discovered that they taste amazing together too! So even if your pantry isn't empty, enjoy a warm and simple meal tonight.

As for Chocolate Tulip, my trip to France is only going to bring even cooler posts. We're staying in 'gites' (country houses) so I'll have a kitchen (:D) and the rest of the posts will feature the beautiful markets, cheeses, olive oils, breads, restaurants and cuisine of southern France.
I'll post whenever I can get my hands on wifi, so keep checking or sign up for the email feed!
Au revoir, xx

Pea & Pesto soup
From Stone Soup
serves 2

{Frozen peas are seriously one of the best pantry (or freezer) ingredients. I love that they don’t require any prep and can actually taste better than fresh peas.

This is a great ‘pantry’ recipe to have up your sleeve. It’s perfect for nights when you need dinner to be on the table in 10 minutes or less.}; from Stone Soup

500g (1lb) frozen peas
2-4 tablespoons pesto

1. Bring 2 1/2 cups water to the boil in a medium pot.

2. Add peas and cook for 5 minutes, or until the peas are hot and tender.

3. Puree with a stick blender. Stir in a little pesto, taste and add more if desired. Season.

VARIATIONS
vegan / dairy-free – either replace the pesto with a large handful of torn basil leaves or use a vegan pesto like this Sicilian nut pesto.

no pesto? – the peas on their own make a really lovely pure soup. Or add in a few handfuls of grated parmesan.

pesto-lovers – if you are using good quality home made pesto, you might like to serve with a big dollop of pesto on top.

richer – add in a few tablespoon of butter when pureeing the soup.



Rosemary & Garlic Pasta
From Stone Soup

Note: If you boil your pasta but still have a few hours until you're serving it, toss it up with your olive oil-rosemary-garlic mixture and keep the water in which you boiled the pasta aside. Later on you can add some of that water into the saucepan when reheating if the pasta needs to be loosened up.
You can try and substitute other herbs if you don't have rosemary at the time, and if you want a spicy dish you can add chili flakes. (But I prefer the herby flavour). Feel free to add more rosemary than written-- it'll only taste better!

200g (1/2lb) pasta
3T extra virgin olive oil
1 large sprig rosemary, leaves picked
1-2 cloves garlic, peeled & finely sliced

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Cook pasta according to the packet directions.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a small saucepan over medium. Add rosemary & garlic and fry until garlic is golden and the rosemary has gone crispy. Remove from the heat.

When the pasta is cooked, scoop up a mug full of cooking water then drain the pasta well. Return drained pasta to the hot saucepan and add the flavoured oil. Toss, taste and season well. Serve hot.