Sweet Pea Dip

This weekend is Saint Patty’s Day, and while it’s not a holiday I observe, I couldn’t resist having a little fun in the kitchen.

Last year, I made what I referred to as Kiss Me I’m Not Irish Soda Bread from a great recipe I found. It came out so delicious that I’ll be baking up a loaf again this weekend, adding some untraditional chocolate chips to the mix. What the heck, right?

This time, I wanted to create something playful, but couldn’t quite bring myself to baking green tinted cookies. To me, those always teeter on the border of being something you either want to eat or cautiously avoid. After so many years of learning that green vegetables = healthy and green baked goods = severely passed their freshness, I decided to take a different route.

That’s SO Jenn’s beautiful, springy pea dip is made with olive oil,  parmesan cheese, garlic and nuts much like a pesto (or peasto I should say), and offers an irresistible sweetness and texture. While this would be delicious over pasta (ravioli perhaps?), you can enjoy dunking your Tostitos/pita chips into it or spread it over crostini/ crackers.

Ingredients:

*Makes a little over 1/2 cup*

1 cup frozen peas (+ 1 tablespoon water)

2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped hazelnuts

1 clove garlic

About 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Pinch pepper

Instructions:

Place frozen peas in a microwave safe dish and add 1 tablespoon of water.

Cover and cook in microwave for two minutes so peas are tender.

Pour peas into the bowl of your food processor.

Add olive oil,

Parmesan cheese,

Hazelnuts,

And garlic.

Process so ingredients are blended and textures remains.

Season with salt and pepper.

Blend again to incorporate seasoning.

Eat and enjoy any way you like!