Pasta Primavera

Recipe video above. This is the Pasta Primavera recipe made famous by Le Cirque restaurant in NYC. It was first published in a magazine in the 1970's! This is an excellent big creamy pasta fix with less guilt thanks to a ton of vegetables. The trick here is timing so that all the vegetables finish cooking to tender-crisp perfection at the same time. Don't skip the pine nuts. It's the signature finishing touch.Counting calories? See note 1 on how to lighten the dish.

👥 4 Servings⏱️ Prep & Cook: 35 min⏳ Prep: 15 min🔥 Cook: 20 min👤 Nagi📖 recipetineats

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🥘 Ingredients

Check off ingredients as you prepare them:

🍳 Cookware

●saucepan
●stove
●pot
●skillet
●wooden spoon
●bowl

📝 Preparation Steps

Cut vegetables:

Broccolini - Cut off florets then cut in half lengthwise. Then slice the stems diagonally into 2.5 cm / 1" lengths.

Snow peas - Remove the tough string running down the "seam" of the pea. Stack several peas and slice on the diagonal about 1cm / 0.4" wide.

Asparagus - Snap the base off the asparagus, it will naturally break where the woody stem stars. Cut tips off, leave whole and set aside. Slice the stems diagonally into 2.5 cm / 1" lengths.

Cream Sauce:

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add cream and Parmigiano reggiano. Stir, and once the cream starts simmering gently, stir until the cheese melts then take it off the stove and set aside.

Pasta:

Bring a large pot of water to the boil over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and add the pasta. Cook for the time per the packet minus ⏱️ 1 minute. Meanwhile, cook vegetables.

Reserve pasta water: Just before draining the pasta, scoop out a mug of pasta cooking water and set aside. Drain the pasta.

Cook:

Mushrooms: Heat half the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Cook mushrooms for ⏱️ 4 minutes until golden, remove to a plate.

Veg: Heat remaining oil in the same skillet. Cook broccolini, snow peas and asparagus for ⏱️ 2 minutes. Add zucchini, tomato, green peas, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook for a further ⏱️ 3 minutes. Add mushroom back in, toss, then remove from heat.

large zucchini (, cut into 0.5cm / 0.2" rounds (100g/4 oz piece))1/2green peas (, defrosted)1 cup

Toss! Return pasta into the now-empty pot. Add vegetables, cream sauce and 1/3 cup pasta water. Toss over medium heat using 2 wooden spoons until the sauce thickens and clings to the pasta strands rather than pooling in the base of the pot, about 1 to ⏱️ 2 minutes. (If at any stage the pasta gets too thick, add a splash more pasta water and toss on stove).

Basil & pine nuts - Quickly toss through basil. Divide between 4 bowls. Sprinkle with pine nuts. Devour immediately!

Nutrition Facts

calories

874 kcal

fat Content

56 g

serving Size

1 serving

fiber Content

7 g

sugar Content

11 g

sodium Content

825 mg

protein Content

23 g

trans Fat Content

1 g

cholesterol Content

116 mg

carbohydrate Content

74 g

saturated Fat Content

27 g

unsaturated Fat Content

24 g

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