Today we’re cooking a recipe that looks like a little sea meadow, but in gourmet mode: green, fresh, and full of spirals, like a seahorse’s tail as it cruises through life.

Ingredients:

• 320 g spiral pasta (cavatappi, fusilli, or whatever goes “plop-plop” when it hits the pot)
• 250 g peas (no need to shell them, we’re not fancy little divas)
• A good handful of fresh spinach (the official “meadow”)
• 1 tiny garlic clove (so the sea’s got some attitude)
• Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon (the wave that wakes everything up)
• 40 to 50 g Parmesan or similar, grated (proper sea snow)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt, pepper
• Optional: a small handful of chopped almonds or walnuts, toasted

How to make it:

Put a big pot of water on with salt. When it’s boiling like it means it, drop in the pasta. Halfway through, toss in the peas for a couple of minutes, just enough to soften them but keep a bit of bounce.

Meanwhile, in a small pan, warm the oil and lightly golden the garlic, just a touch, don’t let it get all dramatic. In a blender cup add the peas (save a small handful if you want to bump into little “green pearls”), the spinach, the garlic with its oil, the lemon, the cheese, salt and pepper. Blend until it turns into a bright green cream, like “meadow with a mission”. If it’s too thick, add a little splash of the pasta cooking water and you’re set.

Drain the pasta, pop it back in the pot, and mix with the green sauce. Stir gently, this isn’t a storm, it’s a tiny seahorse dance. Finish with the toasted nuts on top if you’re using them, and a little extra lemon zest if you’re feeling artsy.

Forest tip: if today you’re feeling a bit wobbly, hold on to something small but real, like this pasta, spiralled, green, and lemony. The tail curls up, but your mood uncurls.