Chef John: Alright, it's spring and of course that means, spring peas and we are doing a delicious simple Spring Pea and Stellette Pasta Salad with Fresh Mint and Parsley. There's our peas, little spring peas, I cheffed about half a cup. Those are raw, there is our little star shape pasta, Stellette, am I pronouncing that right. Does that mean emails? Right there they are. Close up, little star shapes. Now, we have got very simple spice mix. You are going to read that on the blog today. Some fresh mint and parsleys with olive oil, of course with lemon and here we go. So, in a bowl, I am going to dump in my raw little baby spring peas, I guess they are not that small, but they are not the giant ones. Now, what we are going to do -- I am not going to cook these. Sometimes, you can throw those into the pasta water, at the last second blanch them.
I am just going to pour the hot drained pasta over the top and I am just going to let it sit there for, I don't know, maybe four or five minutes and the steam, the heat and that star pasta that just got drained, still really hot. It's sort of going to just start to cook a little bit. Just going to sweeten up a little bit, those beautiful peas and that is all I am going to do. Now, this is one of those pasta salads that you do want to dress while it is warm, okay. Mayonnaise based of course big mistake you got to let the pasta cool. Well, I am doing an oil and vinegar or an oil or lemon juice in this case. I am going to dress it warm. So, after about, five or six minutes, I dumped in about a quarter cup of lemon juice, fresh and a third of a cup of olive oil and that really is just my dressing. Really, really basic, my salt pepper mix. I am going to dump that in. I am going to give that a mix and then, I am going to do another very important stuff.
I am going to let this come down to room temperature before I put in my fresh herbs, okay. So, the lemon, the oil, the spices are soaken into that warm pasta. Alright, those peas just got brightened up a little bit, from the hot pasta, but, if I put the herbs in while it was hot they, would turn kind of dark and when look is good, now, that they sat for about a half hour, I am going to put in this half parsley, half fresh mint. Alright, parsley and fresh mints and here, give that a mix and that is such a great, great spring salad. Now, I serve this next to a piece of fish which is just natural so I do this my perch. Demo you probably saw the other day. Really really good contrast. I love hot grilled or sauted meats with cold pasta salads and it's a great contrast and of course, it's good in a bowl, it makes a nice side dish for your picnics or your buffets. Whatever you are doing, anyway, the key is here, keep it simple. Those spring peas are so sweet, delicious, we don't want to do too much. Just a simple spring salad. Anyway, check the blog for the exact ingredient amounts and enjoy!
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