Pasta with Greek Yogourt and Peas - from Ottolenghi's Jerusalem

Made by Jonah - July 2015 - Delicious!

From Jerusalem - p111

Conchiglie with yoghurt, peas & chilli

Conchiglie with yoghurt, peas and chilli (V)

Kirmizi biber (Turkish chilli flakes) are used here to cut the sweetness of the peas and yoghurt. If you can't get hold of them, instead use regular chilli flakes with a tiny amount of smoked paprika. If you want to serve this dish as a salad, reserve 60ml of the cooking water when you drain the pasta and whisk this into the yoghurt sauce before the rest of the ingredients are stirred in. Serves six.

500g Greek yoghurt
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
150ml olive oil
500g fresh peas (or frozen, defrosted)
500g conchiglie pasta
60g pine nuts
2 tsp kirmizi biber (or less, depending on how spicy you like it)
40g basil leaves, roughly torn
240g feta, broken into chunks
Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Put the yoghurt, garlic, 90ml of the olive oil and 100g of the peas in a food processor. Blitz to a uniform, pale-green sauce and pour into a large bowl.

Cook the pasta in plenty of salted water until al dente. While it's cooking, heat the remaining oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add the pine nuts and chilli, and fry for four minutes, until the nuts are golden and the oil deep red. At the same time, heat the remaining peas in a pan of boiling water, then drain.

Drain the cooked pasta into a colander, shake well to get rid of the excess cooking water, then gradually add the hot pasta to the yoghurt sauce (adding it all at once may cause the yoghurt to split). Add the peas, basil, feta, a teaspoon of salt and in a plenty of white pepper, and toss gently. Transfer to serving bowls, spoon over the pine nuts and the chilli-infused oil, and serve.


Turkey and Syria produce many types of dried chilli flakes, known throughout the region, varying greatly in sweetness, acidity, smokiness, heat and earthiness. Each has its own unique aroma and identifiable tinge and we like playing around with them in flavouring many of our dishes. We particularly like Urfa chilli, dark purple and almost musky in flavour; Aleppo chilli, burgundy colour and fruity; or the more general Kirmizi biber, literally translating from Turkish as ‘red pepper’, which is easier to find and covers a range of Turkish products. Look out for all of them in Middle Eastern and Turkish shops, or online. If you can’t get them, use regular chilli flakes with a tiny amount of smoked paprika.

Serves 6

DELICIOUS - LOVED IT!