Split Peas with Mint-Basil Ricotta

Holy my goodness! I have a backlog of recipes to get up here. The professor has been in the kitchen, I assure you, although she has also been in her office, at the airport, over the river, and through the woods.

So, this was my first outing making homemade pesto. As you might recall, I have no blender. I also have no food processor, at least not one with a motor.

I have a pull-cord food processor. I actually love it. It's very cute and easy to use. I also feel like I have a lot of control over exactly how much processing I'm doing. The only trouble is, I can't really emulsify anything because it starts and stops rather than running continuously. But, I've wanted to make my own pesto for awhile, so I decided to give it a whirl (ha!).

Notes: A couple of things I would do differently. First, I followed the directions for cooking my peas that were on the back of the bag. It said simmer the peas for 35-45 minutes. Way too long -- mine were done after 25 minutes. That might be due to my stove. Unfortunately, I didn't check them, so mine were a little mushy. I didn't mind it so much, but I would shorten the cooking time for sure.

Also, due to my tiny processor, I should have chopped my garlic more than I did. I ended up with large chunks of garlic in my pesto. If you have a regular processor, you'd probably have no issue.

I ended up with enough pesto left over for two batches, so I froze the rest. 

Ingredients:
1 lb bag of dried split peas
2-3 garlic cloves
2 cups of fresh mint leaves
2 cups of basil leaves
1/4 cup olive oil
8 oz. ricotta cheese
Salt
Pepper

Directions:

Start by rinsing the peas in a strainer. Pick out broken pieces and let the peas drain.

Dry peas

Bring a pot of water or stock up to a boil, stir in the peas, turn it to low, and let simmer for 25-30 minutes.

While the peas are cooking, make the pesto.

Give the garlic a rough chop and add everything (leaves, garlic, salt, pepper) except for the oil into the processor. If you have a non-motorized one, add everything in at once.

If you have a motorized processor, turn it on and stream the olive oil in until you get a paste. If you have a non-motorized one, pull the cord until you form a paste (guess which one takes longer?)

Delicious paste

Once your peas are done, drain them and put them back in the pot. Add your ricotta and pesto.

Serve it up, preferably next to something that highlights its beautiful color, and enjoy!

Pea green is the new awesome!