Primavera pasta
Servings: 3 servings
Ingredients
- 6 oz (160g) pasta fusilli or penne
- 1.5 tablespoons frying oil
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1 medium zucchini
- 3.5 oz (100g) green beans a small handful
- 1/2 cup peas
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 4 large cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup chicken broth or vegetable broth
- 1 cup heavy cream 30-36%, 240 ml
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 2 oz/50g
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prepare all the vegetables: cut the bell pepper into 1/4-inch (1/2 cm) strips, zucchini into 1/3-inch (3/4 cm) half-slices, green beans in half crosswise, cut off the woody ends of asparagus (white parts) and cut the asparagus into 2-3 parts, cut the garlic into very thin slices.
- Cook the pasta al dente. 5 minutes before the end of the cooking, add the green beans (thin green beans need 4-5 minutes cooking time, thicker beans about 5-6 minutes). Strain the pasta and beans.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan, add the bell pepper and half of the zucchini. Cook over high heat for about 2-3 minutes, or until the vegetables are slightly browned but still very crunchy (they cannot be very soft). Transfer the vegetables to a plate.
- Add half a tablespoon of oil and the other half of zucchini and asparagus to the pan. Cook it the same way as described above. Transfer the vegetables to a plate.
- Add a tablespoon of butter to the pan and when it's melted add the garlic. Cook for about 30 seconds.
- Add the broth, scrape all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spatula and cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes, or until the broth thickens a little.
- Add the cream and lemon zest. Cook for a few minutes until the sauce thickens slightly.
- Season the sauce with lemon juice (it should be very lemony).
- Add the peas and cook in the sauce for 30-60 seconds (fresh peas will need about 20 sec and the frozen peas about a minute).
- Add the grated Parmesan cheese, season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Take the pan off the heat.
- Add the cooked vegetables and pasta. Stir everything together, season with more salt and pepper if necessary.
- Serve with more grated Parmesan cheese and optionally fresh basil leaves.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Add other vegetables: You can literally use any vegetables you have on hand. There are no hard rules here, the most important is that the vegetables are not overcooked and crunchy. You could also use: tomatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, onion, spinach, carrots. All these vegetables would also work well.
- You can add some protein, like smoked salmon, shrimp, pan-fried chicken/salmon, ground sausage, or turkey.
- Add some nuts, like flaked almonds or pine nuts. Toast them on a dry pan for extra flavor.
- Instead of lemon juice and zest, you can add a splash of dry white wine (but I prefer the version with the lemon juice and zest as it's more bright and refreshing). You need to add lemon juice or white wine to add some acidity to the sauce, which would be otherwise too heavy.
- Instead of cream - add lots of olive oil and lemon juice.
- Another preparation method: instead of pan-frying the vegetables you can roast them in the oven at 450°F / 230°C for about 5-10 minutes.
- Storage: You can simply store this pasta in the fridge and reheat it the next day, but the best way would be to store the vegetables with the sauce separately from the pasta. The pasta will absorb the sauce and be mushy.
- Calories count = 1/3 of the recipe (1 serving). This is only an estimate!
Nutrition
Calories: 553kcal