Edamame Pasta

There is a reason we keep coming back to those ultra simple, tried and true recipes - they're good.  One of those recipes for me is lemon pasta.  All it takes is some lemon juice and zest, some sort of green veggie (like broccoli or peas), maybe a touch of cream, and some parmesan.  It has tons of flavor and only takes a couple minutes to cook up.  With a dish like this, it's easy to fall into a rut; thus, my recommendation reinvigorating the potentially boring meal.  Add one - just one - unexpected ingredient.

For me, this ingredient was edamame.  Edamame is so Asian and lemon pasta is so Italian.  I must be crazy for combining these two cuisines!  But I'm not.  I made my pasta like I typically do, using fresh spinach as my green because it requires zero cooking.  I also like how it starts to wilt against the warm pasta but still retains its firm texture.  The edamame was a last minute addition after my local sushi restaurant sent me an order for free with the rest of my delivery, but it completely changed the dish.  While broccoli, peas, or asparagus go with the lemon flavor, they add texture but don't do anything to add another level to the dish.  The edamame is slightly sweet so it looks the tart lemon right in the eyes and says "hey, you're not the boss of me."