Toss some pasta with a tasty sauce and you’ve got a dinner I’ll always happily eat. But, add loads of veggies and now you’ve got flavor plus some healthy nutrients. And, this lemon ricotta peas and pasta does that so beautifully. I love how this keeps in the fridge, too, as it makes for great leftovers. Some ricotta and parmesan cheese gives this dish a hearty and creamy profile that you’d expect from a heavier and more complicated dish. But, this recipe is super easy to make.

For this dish we’re making a sort of pesto from kale. After removing the stems (also called the ribs) the leaves just need a quick few minutes in the hot skillet with some garlic and olive oil. Then pour this into a blender or food processor with just a bit of water and some spices and lemon zest to create that yummy sauce. A word of advice here- though I love my food processor so much it wasn’t quite powerful enough to get this sauce blended smooth. I ended up transferring it to my trusty blender. So for that reason I recommend using a blender or bullet for this step.

In addition to the kale pesto, there’s also some peas you add in at the end. I love frozen peas for recipes like this. They taste fresh, thaw quickly, and are never mushy or metallic like canned peas sometimes are.

Toss the pasta, kale mixture, and peas together with the cheeses and you’re ready to serve this tasty dish.

I used cellentani for these photos because I thought the sauce would cling well to it and it does! As always hold back a little bit of the pasta water to “loosen” a sauce that’s too dry.

With less than one box of pasta you can get 6 servings- that’s a great way to get your money’s worth!