BACK TO ALL RECIPES

Pasta Primavera

Photo: Burcu Avsar and Zach DeSart

BY The Editors

PUBLISHED April 1, 2024

Unlike the ‘70s version of Pasta Primavera, you don’t have to have a laundry list of specific spring vegetables to make this work; use your judgment about what’s in season and which tastes good together, and go from there.

 

The following may contain affiliate links for which we earn a small commission. Thank you for supporting us in this way!
Print

Pasta Primavera

Prevent your screen from going dark

Makes 4 servings 1x

Time 30 minutes

Units Scale

Ingredients

  • Salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon red chile flakes, or to taste
  • 1 1/2 pounds mixed spring vegetables (like asparagus, spinach or other tender greens, snap peas, snow peas, radishes, baby carrots or turnips, shelled fava beans, or peas), chopped
  • Pepper
  • 1/2 cup cream
  • 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 pound any pasta
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh chervil or mint for garnish

Instructions

  1. Bring a large pot of water to boil and salt it. Put the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When it’s hot, add the red chile flakes and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Add the vegetables and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are crisp-tender, 3 to 10 minutes, depending on the vegetables (add any vegetables with a much longer cooking time, like root vegetables, 5 minutes before the rest). Add the cream and 1/4 cup of the parmesan, and cook until heated through and thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Turn off the heat.
  2. When the water comes to a boil, add the pasta. Stir occasionally, and start tasting the pasta after 5 minutes. When the pasta is tender but not mushy, drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water. Add the pasta to the vegetables and turn the heat to low. Toss to combine, adding a little reserved cooking water at a time to loosen the sauce, if necessary. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Garnish with the herbs and the remaining parmesan and serve.

— Recipe from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Completely Revised Tenth Anniversary Edition 

Log in, or become a member today.

Join in: enjoy 7 days free, plus 40% off your first year with access to 1,000+ highly vetted recipes from the How To Cook Everything series and beyond, essays from Mark, and original pieces from our contributors.

Join annually and save 40%
Log in to your account

GetBetterFasterHealthierSmarterTastier

in the Kitchen

Through our (more than a thousand, and growing) highly vetted recipes from the How to Cook Everything series, original food essays and reporting, thoughtful podcast conversations and introductions to new and responsible food products, we aim to showcase what’s possible, from farm to fork, and power a growing movement that encourages people to think about food not as a commodity, but as central to our health and happiness.

Start your free trial

We hope you join us on this journey. We’d love to have you as a part of the Bittman community. As a member, you'll have access to:

  • New recipes every week
  • 1000s of recipes from How to Cook Everything and beyond
  • First access to in-person events with Mark and Kate
  • Exclusive discounts from our favorite brands
  • Q&As with Mark and the team

 

Subscribe to our free newsletter

Join over 105,000 passionate individuals who receive our weekly emails. It’s 100% free and you can unsubscribe anytime. Plus, we’ll email you a sampling of what premium members receive on a weekly basis.