Springtime is all about delicious greens and fresh flavors, and nothing embodies that more than this spring pasta! This is a spring pasta with peas and roasted oyster mushrooms, but with a twist since it's actual a pea pesto pasta! It comes together in just 30 minutes, so it makes for a great weeknight dinner!
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💭 Why you'll love this recipe
- Unbelievable springtime flavors: There's peas, there's shallots, there's oyster mushrooms, so this pasta embodies all these delicious, fresh springtime flavors
- Vegan, ready in 30 minutes: With some sleuthing and sequencing, you can build some pretty complex flavors with vegan ingredients in just 30 minutes! I have included instructions for roasting your oyster mushrooms in both the oven and the air fryer!
- Packed with nutrients: All the ingredients in this pasta are packed with nutrients. Pea shoots have lots of dietary fiber, and several vitamins. Wild mushrooms like oyster mushrooms are rich in antioxidants that helps prevent cancer.
📋 Ingredients and notes
This spring pasta has three parts: pasta, pea shoot pesto, and roasted toppings.
- Pasta: I like using long pasta (I used fresh pappardelle this time)
- Pea shoot pesto: pea shoots, pistachios, garlic cloves, salt, pepper and oil
- Toppings: oyster mushrooms, shallots, oil, salt and pepper
Notes and Variations
- Type of oil: I prefer to minimize the number of ingredients I use in a recipe, so I prefer using avocado oil for both the pesto and the roasting because it has a higher smoke point. You can also use olive oil in both the pesto and the toppings- just make sure that you're roasting at 375F so you don't hit the smoke point.
- Oyster mushrooms vs. other mushrooms: Oyster mushrooms are in season right after Spring rains (or as we think of it in Seattle, for half the year). But you can use almost any other mushroom in this dish instead.
- Pistachios vs. other nuts: I like using pistachios since it complements the pea shoots flavor amazingly. But you can use most other nuts, or if you're nut-free, you can also use sunflower or pumpkin seeds.
📖 Step-by-step instructions
Start by roasting the oyster mushrooms and shallots
Detach the oyster mushrooms from their base and cut them into individual pieces. Then, rinse them gently under running water and then use a paper towel or a kitchen towel to dry them out as best as possible. I typically press them gently with a towel and then let them sit swathed in a towel while I prepare the shallots.
Peel the shallots and slice them thinly into small pieces. I don't mind keeping the green core in my shallots, but you can choose to keep or remove them (process pictures not included for shallots)
Toss both the oyster mushrooms and the shallots with avocado oil, salt, and pepper and then lay them out in a flat layer on either a baking sheet (if using the oven) or an air-fryer tray or basket (if using an air fryer)
If using an air fryer: roast at 360F for about 5 to 10 minutes, then remove the shallots (or they might burn). I suggest checking every minute after the 5 minute mark because the time it takes to roast the shallots will depend on how big the slices are! Then, once you remove the shallots, roast the mushrooms for another 10 to 12 minutes. I used a Breville Smart Oven to roast mine - shallots took 7 minutes, and mushrooms ~20 minutes.
If using an oven: roast at 400F for 5 to 8 minutes, then remove the shallots, and then continue to roast the mushrooms for another 10 to 15 minutes thereafter.
Prepare the pasta
Once you get the mushrooms and shallots into the oven or air fryer, start boiling your pasta water. I used fresh pappardelle, which cooks in about 6 minutes. But cook your pasta to the directions on the package. Drain, but save half a cup of the pasta water to thin out the pesto in case you need to!
Prepare the pea shoot pesto
Add three cups of pea shoots, half a cup of toasted pistachios, garlic cloves, salt, and pepper to a food processor and pulse into a coarse consistency. Make sure to leave out the extra salt in case you use toasted and salted pistachios. Then, slowly pour either olive oil or avocado oil while pulsing to get to the right consistency. Mine took about 3 tablespoons of avocado oil. Set this aside.
Assemble an amazing spring pasta!
Toss the pasta with the pesto, and use the pasta water to thin it out as much as you desire. Then, top with the roasted oyster mushrooms and the shallots, and a few more pistachios for extra crunchiness. Enjoy the most delicious spring pasta with peas ever!
👩🏽🍳Top tips and FAQs
Yes, you can add up to a cup of peas (fresh, frozen or blanched all work!)
Yes! I use pistachios since I find that they pair really well with pea shoots. However, you can use pine nuts, walnuts, almonds, or cashew nuts (or even pepitas if you want to go nut free)
The recipe is vegan as written (I use vegan pappardelle made with durum semolina from Garofalo). However, if you're vegetarian and don't mind the cheese, you can use any pasta and add vegetarian parmesan (or mozzarella!) to this pasta.
Yes, you can use other mushrooms - oyster mushrooms are really lovely in the Spring in Seattle, but cremini, white mushrooms, or baby Bella could also work great!
🍴 Serving and storage suggestions
This pasta can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 to 3 days. I don't recommend freezing the pasta! You can garnish with additional pea shoots, herbs of your choice, or other crunchy spring vegetables (e.g., like this easy microwave asparagus) or swap the shallots for roasted red onions!
If you like this recipe, don't forget to try out my other vegetarian pasta recipes:
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Please leave a comment and a star rating and let me know how it went! We love hearing from you, thank you so much
📖 Recipe
Spring Pasta with Peas and Roasted Oyster Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 8 oz long, wide pasta, I used papparadelle
Pea Shoot Pesto
- 3 cups pea shoots, or pea tendrils
- ½ cup pistachios, toasted, unsalted
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon salt, omit if using salted pistachios
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil, can also use olive oil
Toppings - Oyster Mushrooms
- 0.5 lb oyster mushrooms, you can go up to 1 lb for a mushroom forward dish!
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Toppings - Shallots
- 1 shallot, medium sized
- 1 teaspoon avocado oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Other Garnishes
- 1 tablespoon pistachios, toasted
- ¼ cup pea shoots, fresh, for garnish
Instructions
Roast Oyster Mushrooms & Shallots
- Start by slicing off the stem end of half a pound of oyster mushrooms and separate them into bite-sized individual pieces. Wash them under running water quickly and then dry them thoroughly using a kitchen towel. Note: I prefer squeezing the water gently and then leaving them wrapped in the kitchen towel while I prepare the shallots
- Remove the root and edges, and peel the shallot. Then slice into thin circles so it's perfect as a roasted topping for the pasta.
- If using an oven - preheat to 400°F. If using an air-fryer, and it requires preheating, preheat to 360°F
- Add oyster mushrooms to a mixing bowl along with one tablespoon of avocado oil, one teaspoon of salt, and half a teaspoon of black pepper. Use your hands or tongs to coat them properly. Then, transfer to air fryer tray or basket, or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Season the shallots with a teaspoon of oil, half a teaspoon of salt, and a quarter teaspoon of black pepper in the same mixing bowl and transfer them to a corner of the air fryer tray or basket / baking sheet. Note: You could season them together, but I find that keeping them separate makes it easy to remove the shallots versus picking through!
- If air-frying: Place the basket or tray in the air fryer and roast at 360°F for 5 minutes. Check on the shallots at the five minute mark, and if roasted (browned around the edges) remove the shallots. If not, continue to check in 1 minute increments until the shallots can be removed. For reference, I use a Breville Smart Oven and it took 7 minutes for shallots to brown. After removing the shallots, allow mushrooms to roast for an additional ten or so minutes. My mushrooms were perfectly browned after 20 minutes of total roasting time.
- If using the oven: place the baking sheet and roast at 400°F for 5 minutes. Check on the shallots at the five minute mark, and if roasted (browned around the edges) remove the shallots. If not, continue to check in 1 minute increments until the shallots can be removed. For reference, in my regular oven, it took 8 minutes for shallots to brown.After removing the shallots, allow the mushrooms to roast for another 20 minutes, checking in 10 minute increments. My mushrooms took a total of 27 minutes to brown in the oven.
- If your pistachios aren't already toasted, throw half a cup of pistachios in the oven on a separate baking sheet and toast for ~10 minutes
Prepare Pasta
- When you first pop the mushrooms and shallots in the oven or air fryer, start boiling your pasta water. Then cook the pasta to the directions on the package. Drain, reserving half a cup of pasta water, and set aside.
Prepare Pesto
- Add three cups of pea shoots, half a cup of toasted pistachios, 3 garlic cloves, a teaspoon of salt, and half a teaspoon of pepper into a food processor bowl and pulse until you get a coarse paste of sorts.
- Then, with the food processor running, slowly add about 3 tablespoons of avocado oil (or olive oil) to emulsify the pesto to the right consistency. If you don't have a chute to do this in your food processor, add the oil in one tablespoon increments.
Assemble Pasta
- Toss the pasta with the pesto, using pasta water to thin out if required. Then, top with roasted mushrooms and shallots, as well another tablespoon of toasted pistachios and ¼ cup of fresh pea shoots as garnish. Serve hot!
Notes
- Air-fryer and oven timings provided as a reference point. However, each individual oven and air-fryer can be quite different (as will the sizes of the mushrooms and shallot slices) - so please check in reasonable increments to make sure you're getting to the right level of roasting!
- You can use any mushroom in the recipe if oyster mushrooms aren't available, just make sure to watch oven or air fryer for browning (since times can be different!)
- You can substitute pistachios with other nuts of choice (e.g., pine nuts) or even go nut-free by using pumpkin or sunflower seeds.
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