Mint-pea pesto?

I was a bit skeptical when I saw a recipe for mint-pea pesto in Dinner: A Love Story (my newest obsession -- and it's also a blog!), but tonight called for a simple dinner, so I gave it a shot. I think it was a smashing success.

Having uploaded the picture, I'm afraid it doesn't look nearly as appetizing as it ought. The picture on the blog with the recipe looks better, because she mixed the pasta in the with sauce before serving. That's all well and good if you have the right proportions of pesto to pasta prepared, but I never do.

The gist of the recipe is that you combine in a food processor peas, olive oil, mint leaves, freshly grated Parmesan, salt, and some lemon juice and pulse until you get "the consistency somewhere in between smooth and chunky guacamole." She suggests about 1 1/2 cups of peas to 1 cup loosely packed mint leaves, but you can play by taste, if you will. Meanwhile, you've got water boiling for pasta, and while the pasta's cooking you scoop out some of the pasta water. After you've drained the pasta, you put the mint-pea paste into the pot and whisk it together with the reserved pasta water. (I prolly could've used more). Then, if you're confident, you can mix your pasta in with the pesto. I topped mine with some extras peas and parm. Left over pesto (not with pasta water) would be great on bread.

I'd happily add this meal to the rotation, but the trouble is, a cup of mint leaves is an awful lot of mint. I probably only had three quarters of a cup, but there's nearly none left in my little planter. Plus Tim actually isn't as big a fan of mint as I am, so this might be a once a season deal.