Pasta Primavera: Bowtie Pasta with Spring Vegetables
The farmers markets are overflowing with early spring vegetables so I just had to make Pasta Primavera, farfalle (bowtie) pasta with just-arrived asparagus, fava beans and sweet peas.
Pasta Primavera is a classic Italian-American dish concocted by Sirio Maccioni and made famous at his Le Cirque restaurant in New York City in the 70s.
I adapted the classic recipe to lighten up the cheesy sauce. Sirio used spaghetti but today I chose farfalle to ensure that every forkful has some pasta and vegetables for a full flavor explosion in every bite.
This is a glorious bowl of springtime. The sweet fresh vegetables are bathed in the light cream sauce and their fresh taste shines through. The farfalle absorb the sauce full of spring vegetable flavor. The ricotta salata grated on top ties the dish together and kicks it up a notch.
I had an ulterior motive for cooking up the dish today. I’m making Pasta Primavera at a demonstration and tasting for 50 San Jose fans later this week. I wanted to make sure I still had it right this season.
Here’s the Farfalle with Spring Vegetables recipe just in case you get inspired at the market. Use my spring veggie trio or use whatever spring vegetables turn you on. Just don’t use more than 3 vegetables or the flavors will get muddled.
You can make the primavera sauce in the time that it takes to cook the pasta. Buon appetito.
Pasta Primavera: Pasta with Spring Vegetables
Ingredients
- 1 pound or 500 grams Farfalle dried pasta
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 spring onions
- 8 thin asparagus spears
- 1 cup shelled fresh peas
- 1 cup shelled fava beans
- 10 ripe cherry tomatoes cut in half
- 1/2 cup EVOO
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup basil leaves, ripped by hand
- 1/2 cup grated ricotta salata or grated parmigiano
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Cooking Directions
- Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rapid boil. Add the farfalle and cook until just al dente.
- In a large saute pan heat 1/3 cup EVOO over medium-high heat.
- When the oil starts to ripple add the garlic.
- When the garlic becomes translucent and gives off its aroma add the spring onion, asparagus and fava beans. (To prepare the fava beans remove them from the pod and blanch them in the hot pasta water for less than a minute. This loosens the skin so you can peel it off easily.)
- Sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper and mix vegetables well.
- Saute vegetables for about a minute.
- Add a 1/2 cup of the pasta water to the saute pan.
- Cover an cook the vegetables until tender, about 4 minutes.
- Remove the cover and add the peas and tomatoes.
- When the peas and tomatoes start to wrinkle drizzle the vegetables with 2 tablespoons EVOO and another 1/2 cup of the pasta water.
- Bring to a rapid oil and cook until the sauce is reduced by half.
- Drain the farfalle and add to the primavera sauce pan.
- Pour in the cream and 2 tablespoons EVOO. Mix well. (Add more pasta water if the sauce is too dense.)
- Taste for salt and pepper.
- Stir in the basil.
- Off the heat add the grated cheese.
- Serve immediately.