Penne with Ground Turkey, Veggies and Spicy Spinach Pesto

Get a big pot of water boiling. Don’t salt it until you drop your pasta into the water.

Heat a large pan (use one that has a lid) over medium high heat. Add about 2 – 3 Tablespoons of olive oil along with your sliced peppers. Add some salt and pepper and cover the pan so they steam.

Add about 2 – 3 Tablespoons of olive oil to another pan and set over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, add your ground turkey, salt and pepper, and about 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and cook until brown. This should only take about 6 – 8 minutes tops.

At this point, the veggies should be pretty soft, add your mushrooms and give a stir. Let those cook for about 3 – 5 minutes, then add the browned turkey to the veggie mix. Give it a stir, taste for seasoning, turn it down to low and cover the pan. Let those flavors have some time to get cozy.

Salt your water and drop your pasta. Cook for about 9 minutes if you’re using short cut pasta, less if you’re using long spaghetti. (cook according to your package instructions)

Time to make the pesto. Into the bowl of your food processor, add your garlic, jalapeños, salt and pepper, spinach, cheese, walnuts and remaining red pepper flakes. Give it a whirl in the food processor. Slowly stream in your remaining olive oil. It’ll be pretty thick. But keep pulsing until it’s not, and that’ll happen quickly. You’ll see.

Taste it. Re-season if necessary. It should be pretty spicy. If not, you could add some diced chilis. I had a little 5 ounce can. I used maybe 1/2 of the can. I don’t know how much of a difference it made. I think I’d go for more red pepper next time (assuming it wasn’t spicy enough). Be creative. If you have a hotter pepper, use that, if you want more garlic, add more. If you have arugula (which has a spicy flavor), use that. My husband says my “signature ingredient” is red pepper flakes, he’s right, I use it often. That’s my go-to spice.

Set the pesto aside.

Once the pasta is al dente, reserve about a cup of pasta cooking water, then drain pasta and return it to the large pot. Add your turkey and veggie mixture and spoon in some pesto. Give it a gentle stir. Add more pesto slowly. If you want to thin it out a little, add a little bit of the reserved pasta water.

Plate it and you’re done. Enjoy!