Whole Wheat Tonnarelli with Peas & Lemon

Classic Spring flavors that take inspiration from practically everywhere.

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I’m not a professional recipe developer per se, but more someone that likes to cook and share recipes with friends. I am always impressed by chefs who create something totally unique, but I tend to pull inspiration from everywhere to create something that feels interesting and unique to me.

Lately, I’ve been craving and cooking a lot of pasta dishes that lean more creamy and cheesy. It started with Carla Lalli Music’s Pasta alla Gricia, a classic Roman dish where the sauce forms when the starchy pasta water is slowly emulsified with the cheese to make a not-too-heavy-but-still-rich sauce. Fan favorite Cacio e Pepe relies on a similar technique.

I’ve tried to make these pasta dishes before, but the sauce would always clump and become a globby mess. But when Carla’s recipe came out, I made it over and over and over so that I’d finally practiced my way to success. Sometimes I’d throw in fava beans or artichokes, but the sauce was always perfect.

High on my success, I revisited

Alison Roman

‘s Lemon Pepper Pasta with Browned Butter which I’d say is more akin to a citrus Cacio e Pepe, but relies on the same technique. While eating another round of a perfectly executed sauce, I thought, am I good at this?

Recently, I visited King Restaurant with a friend and we had a lemony-pea-prosctuitto pasta that felt a bit like an amalgamation of all these dishes I’d been cooking at home. It was bright from the lemon, salty from the cheese and prosciutto, and the peas provided a nice verdant crunch. I was already thinking about when I could go back, but within days, it came off their menu to make room for something else.

So finally, when I was flipping through back issues of Gourmet Magazine and came across a pasta recipe with green beans, pepper, and parmesan (and also potatoes and poppy seeds??), I found a launchpad to bring all of these inspirations together.

I borrowed the whole wheat pasta from the Gourmet recipe, peas replaced the green beans, lemon felt like the right acidic punch, and a crispy slice of prosciutto became the salty finish. It’s ultimately a nod to classic Spring flavors, but taking inspiration from cooking and eating along the way.

It’s Cacio e Pepe meets lemon, alla Gricia meets spring peas. This recipe reminded me that you never know when inspiration will strike.

Whole Wheat Tonnarelli with Peas & Lemon