Mushroom Pasta with Pea Microgreens

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic minced
½ package mushrooms sliced
½ package fresh pea microgreens chopped
2 teaspoons lemon zest freshly grated
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
10 ounces of any pasta of your choice
1 cup parmesan cheese freshly grated
¼ cup fresh basil chopped

Instructions:

Bring a 4-quart pot of salted water to a boil for cooking pasta noodles.
Cook pasta, stirring occasionally, until just tender, according to package directions.
Meanwhile, in a large non-stick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook while stirring, until fragrant but NOT browned, about 30 seconds. Add mushrooms and increase heat to medium-high. Cook the mushrooms until tender and lightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Add pea microgreens and cook for 1 additional minute.
Stir in lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Add the pasta, Parmesan, and basil. Toss to coat well.
Serve immediately, garnished with more pea microgreens and Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Notes:
*This is a vegetarian dish, but if you want to add meat, add cooked chicken and/or bacon bits to the mushroom mixture, just before adding pasta.
*The stems of shiitake mushrooms are tough and take longer to cook. If using the stems, it is best to separate them from the caps. You can eat the stems, but you will have to cook them longer to keep them from being chewy. If you don’t want to cook the stems longer, you can save the stems to make broth or discard them altogether.