Silky, cheesy pea pesto sauce makes ravioli shine with ingredients you might just already have in your kitchen. This rich dish feels indulgent, but sneaks in extra veggies and is easy enough for a weeknight meal.
Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been cleaning out my kitchen to make things organized, clean and fresh. It’s something I highly recommend, and I try to do it every few months.
If you’re like me, you probably find a lot of odds and ends you forgot about when you clean out your freezer. Half a cup of mango with freezer burn. Overripe bananas you meant to bake into bread. Things you froze to avoid wasting… and end up having to throw away because you kept it too long.
Maybe you even have some UFOs—unidentified frozen objects.
I’ve gotten a little better about this over the last few years. This time around I did find a few things I wanted to get rid of to make room for new additions, so I’ve been planing ways to use them up.
One of those things was bag of peas leftover from making vegetable soup. They were still good, but a little past their prime. I happened to have some pesto in the fridge and some sausage ravioli in the freezer, so I decided to make a pea pesto cream sauce.
I’m gonna be honest with you here. It was SO much better than I thought it was going to be. Isn’t it magical when that happens? It was rich and cheesy, but somehow bright and fresh. The basil and lemon juice gave the old peas new life.
About that frozen ravioli…
As much as I shout to the rooftops about homemade being best and unprocessed foods, I believe processed foods do have their place.
One of the staples of my freezer is frozen pasta, and I love to pick up refrigerated pasta from the grocery store every once in a while. You can get shockingly good store bought ravioli and tortellini these days. Some of my favorite selections are at Earth Fare, Trader Joes, and sometimes Sam’s Club. Even the store in my small town has a decent selection.
I can think of few things that taste better than homemade pasta, and I still believe homemade is best… but making it takes time, counter space, and patience. I recommend you try it at some point. If you do, I think you’ll realize it’s not a mythical feat.
Listen, I’m not here to judge you if you buy it pre-packaged.
When you buy, just read the label and make the best choices you can. Here are a few common-sense guidelines on what to look for:
- Refrigerated pasta with a close expiration date is a good sign, as it probably doesn’t rely heavily on preservatives. The shorter the shelf-life, the more likely it is that valuable nutrients haven’t been removed or altered to make them last longer. Read the packaging to see whether it mentions the use (or lack) of preservatives.
- Pasta made in-store or locally was likely made recently (maybe even that day) with high-quality, whole ingredients. The more minimally processed and less transport, the better.
- If it’s made in small batches, even better. This suggests a person made it and that the recipe was created for quality, not manufactured for the masses.
- Check for standard nutrition information such as sodium and sugar content, as that can be a drawback of processed food.
- Pay attention to how many ingredients there are, and how many you don’t recognize or can’t pronounce. This isn’t gospel, but the more there are, the more processed it probably is.
- Bonus points if the ingredients are local and don’t include antibiotics or added hormones.
All that being said, if it looks good and you want to eat it…
Do it! Even if it doesn’t meet the above criteria. Just don’t eat it every night and you’ll be fine.
Being aware of what you’re eating and making the best choices possible is great, but a bit of pre-made of pasta every once in a while isn’t going to automatically give you cardiovascular/metabolic disease (or make you fat). Just be sensible. Don’t overdo it or rely on it.
When you eat it, don’t feel guilty. Eat it slowly, savor every bite and appreciate it.
Now, let’s get cooking!
If you make this, let me know! Leave a comment below, or post it on Instagram and mention @leanndacavalier and #whipsmartkitchen! I want to see you get cooking!
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