Summertime Primavera
A few weeks ago I was making a sandwich lunch and instead of your typical chips side decided to make a quick pasta primavera. Lately I’ve been chopping veggies for snacks so I had plenty of vegetables handy. My sister Kristen got wind of it and requested it for our 3rd of July party. Primavera can be as complicated or as easy as you wish. Mine is easy and has an emphasis on quick as well.
Ingredients
- Two to Three Carrots
- Head of Broccoli
- Half bag of frozen peas
- Half pint of grape tomatoes
- 8oz Farfalle
- Olive oil and Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper
Preparation
The bulk of the work is chopping.
- Dice the carrots.
- Cut off the florets from the broccoli head into bite size pieces. I discarded the stalks.
- Halve the grape tomatoes
Steam the broccoli and peas. We will be sautéing them later so its not necessary to cook them completely. I probably steamed them for 3-4 minutes each.
Salt and boil water in a pot sufficient for cooking the pasta. Cook according to the package directions.
While the water is boiling heat a saucepan to medium heat and add a couple tablespoons of olive oil or vegetable oil over medium heat. When the oil has heated add the carrots and lightly sauté for a minute or two. Next add the tomatoes (raw) and the partially cooked broccoli and peas. Toss lightly and let the vegetables sauté cook for about 5 minutes. Adjust the heat as necessary - you do not want the vegetables to burn and you should hear a light sizzle with the oil in the pan. Also during the adding of the vegetables season with salt and pepper as desired.
When the vegetables have cooked lower the heat to low until the pasta is ready. Hopefully the two will occur at the same time. Drain the pasta.
Combine the pasta and the vegetable saute with alternate scoops from your colander and saute pan into the pasta pot. Stir the pot after each scoop and add extra virgin olive oil and seasonings with every other scoop to taste. When all the ingredients have been combined lightly toss and let sit in the pot for a few minutes. This will let the primavera cool and also allow proper coating of the oil and seasoning with the pasta and vegetables.
Serve immediately warm or wait and serve chilled as an alternative to a heavy mayo pasta salad.
The above should serve 2-4 as a side. The ingredients would easily scale up and proportions of vegetables to pasta (and indeed adding any other veggies like zucchini, mushrooms, etc) would be easy and great depending on what you feel like.
I have had this recipe immediately and later and preferred it fresh so if you can serve it as closely as possible to when it is cooked!