Pomodoro Puttanesca Pasta with Peas

Last night I made a delicious light pasta last night inspired by the quart of pea pods I got at my CSA.  The sauce is a hybrid between a pomodoro and a puttanesca sauce.  I found it to be creamy and delicious with all of the flavors complementing the tuna so much that you hardly notice it.  For a vegetarian option, you could leave out the tuna entirely or replace the tuna with seitan. I also think this would be fabulous with high quality chicken.

This would also be great with freshly grilled tuna, in which case I would slice the tuna and serve it on top of the pasta.

SAUCE
• 4-6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• 1 quart cherry tomatoes (fresh or frozen-fresh)
• 1/2 cup sliced green olives
• 1/4 cup chopped capers
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 4 oz canned tuna (in water well-drained) or high qualityItalian tuna in olive oil***always use chunk light due to the mercury content of albacore
• up to 1/2 cup of water to thin sauce if needed
• freshly ground black pepper

PASTA
• 1 lb of a short cut pasta like fusilli or oriccheti
• large pinch of sea salt
• 1 quart of peas in pod (trimmed and halved) or shucked peas

GARNISH -- ALL OPTIONAL
• 1 T extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup chopped parsley (Italian or curly is fine)
• 1/2 cup grated asiago cheese (optional)

Chop and mince all of your ingredients before you start the heat.  This one cooks fairly quickly.

Start a large saucepan over medium heat.  Once hot, add the olive oil.  When the olive begins to shimmer add the garlic, stirring frequently and watching them carefully.  Cook the garlic until the slices are all beginning to brown. Add the rest of your sauce ingredients, reduce heat to low, and simmer the sauce partially covered while you cook the pasta. Keep an eye heck to make sure it doesn't need a bit of water added.

Bring a stock pot of water to a rolling boil over high heat. Once boiling add a large pinch of salt to the water.  Stir briefly, allow the water to return to a boil and then cook your pasta according to the package directions until it is el dente. As the pasta is reaching el dente, dump in your peas.  Bring to a boil or until the peas turn bright green (which ever comes first) and drain.

In a large bowl, toss the drained pasta and peas with the sauce, adding up to another tablespoon of olive oil if needed.  Allow everything to cool for 5 minutes or so and then toss in the parsley and asiago cheese.

Enjoy!