Pastina with green olives, mint and garlic

This is another adapted recipe from Vegetable Harvest. The original recipe calls for spaghetti, but I wanted this to be a side dish, so I used pastina. Pastina is bigger than couscous, but smaller than orzo. The sauce is almost like a coarse green olive and mint pesto - the olives and mint are pulsed a few times in the in the food processor with olive oil, garlic and parmigiano reggiano. The sauce is tossed with the cooked pasta, and finished with freshly ground pepper and more parmigiano reggiano. I also added a pinch of lemon zest. This was really delicious, the mint gives it a very fresh taste. I served this alongside a pork tenderloin that I had crusted in fennel pollen, grey salt, and white pepper. The two dishes went really well together.