Yes, this tastes every bit as beautiful and delicious as it looks. The coconut milk gives it a lovely sweet taste, which contrasts perfectly with the saltiness from the cheese, and the lemon and mint add a nice refreshing accent to the peppery radish and earthy pumpkin seeds. This dish is so bright and summery, yet cheesy and comforting at the same time – it is definitely a new pasta staple in my house!

Yield: Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

• ½ package whole wheat linguine noodles (can easily be doubled to use whole package if desired)
• 1½ tbsp butter, divided
• ⅓ cup shallots, chopped
• ½ tbsp flour
• ¾ cup coconut milk
• ¼ cup half and half
• ¼ tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp paprika
• 1 tsp salt + 1 tsp for boiling water
• ½ tsp pepper
• ¼ cup parmesan cheese
• ¼ cup cooking water (reserve ½ a cup just to be safe)
• 1 cup peas
• 1 tbsp mint, chopped
• ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
• 1 radish, grated
• squeeze of lemon juice (¼ of a lemon for each dish)

Preparation:

Start by boiling the water, adding a tsp of salt and then linguine noodles. Cook according to package. Reserve ½ cup of cooking water before draining.

Toast pumpkin seeds in a dry sauté pan for about 2½ minutes, until they turn a nice golden toasty colour, constantly shaking the pan around so they don’t burn. Set aside until ready to assemble the dish.

While the water is boiling and the noodles are cooking, prepare the sauce. Heat 1 tbsp of butter on medium low heat in a somewhat deep pot (so you don’t get splashed when you use the immersion blender later). Add the chopped shallots and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the remaining ½ tbsp of butter and the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes, whisking everything together and getting rid of flour lumps. Turn the heat to low and add in the coconut milk, half and half, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper and whisk for 2 minutes. Add in the parmesan cheese and whisk for 1 minute. Slowly add in 2 tbsp of the reserved cooking water from the noodles and whisk together. Add in the peas and mint and cook for an additional 2-4 minutes. Turn the heat off and use an immersion blender (or you can transfer to a blender) to blend the sauce to your desired thickness. I like to keep a few of the peas somewhat whole just to add a bit of texture. Add in another 2 tbsp of reserved cooking water (I added a total of ¼ cup) and mix together. You will want the sauce a tad on the thinner side because once the whole wheat noodles are added in it will soak up a lot of moisture. Add the noodles to the sauce and mix everything together. Top with grated radish, toasted pumpkin seeds and a squeeze of lemon juice over the pasta. Enjoy!