Best Primavera P6 Book

[Nikita Desjardins]

Ilove to make this pasta primavera recipe after a trip to the farmers market in early summer. I come home with bags full of produce. Some contain spring veggies like asparagus and peas that will only be available for a few more weeks. Others hold summer finds like zucchini, squash, and cherry tomatoes whose season is just starting. The moment when all these spring and summer vegetables collide is so brief that I feel like I have to celebrate it. So, I cook a pot of pasta, saut the veggies, and toss them together to make this pasta primavera recipe.

Next, saut the veggies. I LOVE that all the vegetables cook in one pan in this recipe! Heat a glug of olive oil in a large skillet, and toss in the garlic, onion, zucchini, squash, asparagus, and cherry tomatoes. It only takes a few minutes for the vegetables to soften.

This pasta primavera makes a fantastic meal on its own, though if you like, you could certainly pair it with a side dish or two. We love it with buttery slices of garlic bread and a side salad. Try serving it with any of these salad recipes:

To get ahead on your pasta primavera, chop all of the vegetables the night before. Add them to a large bowl, cover, and store them in your refrigerator. Simply add the oils and seasonings and roast the next day.

If you have leftovers, allow them to cool completely. Store, covered in your refrigerator, for up to 4 days. To reheat, add the pasta primavera to a saucepan on medium heat on the stovetop. Add a small amount of water and cook until warmed through. Or, serve at room temperature pasta salad-style. You can even dress it up a little with fresh greens like arugula or spinach, a big squeeze of lemon, and a drizzle of olive oil.

When the warmer months hit, I find myself trending back to lighter dishes that are heavy on the vegetables. Yes, this dish does have a sauce made with heavy cream, but the herbs and the lemon zest lighten up an otherwise sometimes heavy sauce surprisingly well.

Why Rigatoni? Many of the versions of pasta primavera that are out there call for a longer noodle. I like using something shorter like Rigatoni because it is a similar size to the chopped veggies, and the whole dish is easier to eat that way. With a long noodle, the little florets of broccoli and other veggies just get lost swimming in a sea of stringy noodles.

You can use snow peas or sugar snap peas. Try not to skip them if you can help it, they add a nice sweetness. If you are using snow peas, you can shell some of them if you like (pictured below) or leave the shells on.

I find that the cherry tomatoes are much easier to eat if you cut them in half lengthwise, but you can leave them whole if you like. I used all red ones in this recipe, but the rainbow or heirloom would be a lovely splash of color.

This really is a key ingredient. Not only does it help create a creamy sauce for the rigatoni primavera, but the sauce is less likely to break with heavy cream than with half and half. I have tried half and half and the results are not as good.

You may notice the absence of onion in this recipe. That is what the chives are for. They impart a delicate onion note without all the pungency of your typical onion. Even if you leave out the dill, do your best to include the chives.

The potential variations for this creamy pasta primavera recipe are almost too many to count. Want to make roasted vegetable pasta primavera? You can roast the veggies with a tablespoon of mild flavored oil such as avocado and pop them in a 450 degree oven for about ten minutes.

The vegetable variations are too many to count. You can try any color of bell pepper, asparagus, thin sliced or julienned carrots, shaved fennel bulb, zucchini, yellow squash, snow peas, or almost anything else you can imagine.

Want to try another pasta shape? Rotini would be great as well as penne. If you prefer a longer noodle, then this simply becomes linguine primavera or fettuccine primavera. Though as I previously stated, I think this dish just works better with a shorter noodle.

I love this with a simple green salad topped with my White Balsamic and Basil Vinaigrette and some crusty bread. Or, pair it with my Cream of Asparagus Soup for a satisfying yet light dinner.

Put the rest of the stalks into a blender, along with a good knob of butter, a basil leaf or two, a spring of parsley, a pinch of salt and a ladleful of the water in which the asparagus have boiled. Blend well, adding more water if needed to obtain a smooth, pourable pure. Taste and adjust for seasoning.

While the pasta is cooking, warm a good pour of olive oil and a knob of butter in a large skillet. Add the pancetta and let it render, then add the spring onion and saut just until it wilts. Add the artichokes, peas and asparagus tips. Saut everything together over lively heat for a few minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper and moistening with a drizzle of white wine as you go.

When the pasta is almost, but not quite al dente, drain and add to the skillet. Toss the pasta with the sauted vegetables over low heat, loosening the pasta with a ladleful of the pasta water if need be. Keep tossing for a minute or two, until the pasta is well coated, then add the egg and cheese mixture, and mix it in well, allowing the sauce to thicken slightly, as if making a carbonara.

Hi Frank, I really want to try this recipe! It looks fantastic. Do you think I can use (well rinsed) canned artichokes? I cannot find frozen ones anywhere and agree that the fresh ones are generally disappointing. Thanks!

Hi Frank. Thanks for your response! As you said, canned artichokes are no good; way too acid and they indeed have an unpleasant taste. For the rest, the ricetta was wonderful! Next time I will leave out the artichokes and let the asparagus do the work, unless I find different canned ones. But so far, no luck. Anyway, tonight I am trying something else from your site ? plenty delicious things to choose from! Many thanks!!!

Frank, I have some strozzapreti on hand and they look a lot like the fusilli avellinesi that you recommend. What do you think? Would they be suitable? I think I will give them a try. I always wanted to be monzu. Thanks.

Thanks, Gerlinde! Traditional recipes are my passion, but they were devised in times where people (housewives anyway) had so much more time than we do today. So I love to simplify my recipes to save time, where I can without compromising on the result.

good post frank + one question: which edition of Francesconi do u possess? I cannot find it in my first edition (actually even fusilli as a pasta shape are not featured at all)

thanks

stefano

I find this fascinating: no, I can confirm that in her first edition this dish was not present. How interesting: it possibly means that at the time of the first edition (1965) she did not think that the dish belonged to the canon of Neapolitan cooking, to change her mind 32 yrs later, when a new revised edition (with new recipes added) was published. Which proves the cooking is ever changing, adapting, evolving (I now want to check the new edition to see what she though she add to add to well document Neapolitan food)

st

What a wonderful dish indeed! funny that you mention Angelina not knowing about pasta primavera because I also did not know about it until I moved abroad in the 1990s. But of course in Italy we cook pasta with vegetables all the time and I am glad to read you have unearthed a Neapolitan version of it. Buonissima.

Lovely recipe. I love pasta with vegetables. I have a similar one with peas and asparagus in my book The Mamma Mia! Diet. I will try with artichokes too. It is a delicious addition. Thanks for sharing Frank! Paola

Delicious vegan pasta primavera packed with tender vegetables and tossed in a creamy garlic cashew sauce. This easy vegan pasta primavera recipe has wonderful flavors and plenty of protein and healthy fats for a comforting plant-based meal the whole family will love!

Every year I host my famous #AKZucchiniWeek filled with delicious, sweet & savory zucchini recipes for every meal. Last year I created this incredible, easy vegan pasta primavera recipe packed with a rainbow of veggies and tossed in a creamy garlic cashew sauce.

This plant-based take on traditional pasta primavera is so delicious that it deserved a little re-share. This pasta is absolutely stacked with fresh veggies and I AM OBSESSED. The cashew garlic cream sauce is so simple yet incredibly flavorful. I hope you love it!

Delicious! I was worried 2 zucchinis would be too much but they cook down to make the perfect balance of pasta and veg. My clean-out-the-fridge veggie swaps were green beans, heirloom & grape tomatoes, shallot, and a little green onion. This was a great easy dinner to kick off Zucchini Week 2020!

My husband and I made this recipe last night and it was AMAZING! One tip that worked well for me was to save some of the pasta water (about 1/2 cup) and add it when I was combining the sauce, pasta, and vegetables. This recipe made 5 servings for us, and reheated super well on the stove with the addition of a little bit of water. Also, I definitely recommend making this in a Dutch Oven (or similar) to leave plenty of room for stirring!

This is delicious! Very easy to make and very flavorful. We will definitely make this again. I love it so much that I shared the recipe with some family members in other households as soon as I got up from the table.

This was soooooo good. Like, crazy good. You would never know the sauce is vegan. I used what I had so I sauted frozen broccoli, a white onion sliced, and a carrot. I also roasted some canned whole tomatoes earlier and tossed those in. Love a delicious pantry meal! Thank you!!!

I love this easy, delicious, healthy recipe. Most of the time, I just throw in whatever veg I have in the fridge. As a novice cook myself, I love the simplicity of this and the fancy feel it brings to the dinner table.

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