Pasta Primavera with Asparagus

Once upon a time I worked for a vegetarian. A decent amount of my job was making dinner reservations for him and various guests. Even though we were in a large American city and it was the twenty first century the options for him as a vegetarian, even at very expensive restaurants, was shockingly limited. Over and over again there was only one dish I could reliably find for him and that was “Pasta Primavera”. However, one never knew how good any given restaurant’s pasta primavera was going to be because at least fifty percent of the time it was some mixed vegetables over fettucini in a bland cream sauce.

Thankfully, things have moved on and it’s much easier to find a variety of restaurants that have a pretty good selection if you’re not eating meat. It’s even possible to go out for an entirely vegan meal which would have made my job back then much easier. Indeed, because the bar has been raised so far, we must go back and rehabilitate the pasta primavera in order to reinstate it as a legitimate veggie dish with flavor and vibrancy. If you lean on the greens of the season the majority of your work is done for you. Add in a bit of cream and some lemon for added freshness and you can’t go wrong.

Generally I run a very laid back kitchen without a ton of rules for myself but in this case I very much believe that the only vegetables allowed in a pasta named for springtime should be green. That means no tomatoes. Once you start throwing in any old thing it’s really just becoming a vegetable pasta salad. Nothing wrong with that and glory be when we will have a bounty of brightly colored veggies later this summer but for now, why don’t we just concentrate on the glorious, green bonanza of spring? Also, gasp, there is no garlic in this recipe. You can choose to add some but without it, the pasta has a lighter touch which, again, feels right for this time of year. The only exception I would make in this case is if you’ve gone tromping around the woods to locate some wild garlic.

If spring is particularly tardy in your part of the world or you’re craving this in the dead of winter it will still be really good with frozen versions of any of these vegetables. But, for now, while the sun is just gaining confidence and the April showers have given us a lush green landscape let’s enjoy this version of springtime on a plate.

Making

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4 large servings

25 minutes

Ingredients

240g bag of baby spinach

250g asparagus, cut into three inch pieces

100g shelled peas

100g podded broad beans

500g conchiglie pasta (or whatever pasta you have)

50g pine nuts

50g butter

150ml double cream

Parmesan or pecorino romano cheese

Instructions

The sauce comes together too quickly to cook the veggies so we’re going to blanch them first. Get a large pot of salted water boiling and a large bowl of ice water on the counter next to it. Blanch the BABY SPINACH first for one minute and remove with a slotted spoon to the ice water.

Add the ASPARAGUS, SHELLED PEAS and PODDED BROAD BEANS to the boiling water and cook for three minutes. Remove all the veggies to the ice bath and let them hang out to cool and stop cooking.

If you need to top up the water so you have enough for the pasta, do that first. Then add the CONCHIGLIE PASTA to the water to cook until your desired doneness.

While the pasta is cooking, put a large pan on medium heat. When it has warmed up, add the PINE NUTS to the dry pan for a few minutes to toast them. When they are golden brown, remove them from the pan and set aside.

Add the BUTTER to the pan and move the cooled veggies from the ice bath to the pan with a slotted spoon, trying to leave as much water behind as you can. When you’ve transferred all the veggies, add in the DOUBLE CREAM and bring it up to a simmer.

Stir and let it simmer for a few minutes. If the pasta still has a way to go, turn the heat right down so you don’t overcook the veggies. Add your LEMON ZEST and JUICE from one lemon.

When the pasta is done, drain and add to the pan. Give everything a good stir together. Grate some PARMESAN all over the top and give it a taste. Add what it needs and garnish with the toasted pine nuts.