Primavera means Spring, and although we’ve technically just turned the corner on Spring, in Vermont, the classical “Spring” veggies are just starting to arrive – so bring on the pasta primavera!

Personally, I feel like pasta primavera is the perfect solution for cleaning out the last dribs and drabs from your vegetable draw. Everything goes. A half of red onion here. A couple of loose carrots. A sole tomato. A handful of mushrooms. A few sprigs of asparagus. Half a crown of broccoli. There are no set rules. Just make use of what you have, and the more veggies the better!

Often times when I make shaped pastas, I have a little bit of loose dough leftover at the end. Never enough for a full meal, but I hate to see things go to waste. So I roll it out, cut it into strips, and stash it in my freezer. Overtime the loose-ends add up into a meal. Another resourceful scavenge for my pasta primavera.

Ingredients:

• Pasta (make it fresh or out of a box – no judgment here! I’ve done both)
• 1 tbsp Butter
• Veggies – pick your poison, but these is what made it’s way into this latest batch if you need some inspiration
  • 1 diced Tomato
  • 1 diced Bell Pepper
  • 1/2 diced Red Onion
  • 8 sliced Purple Asparagus
  • 2 Carrots shaved into ribbons
• Juice from 1 Lemon
• 3 tbsp Heavy Cream
• Salt and Pepper to season
• grated Parmesan Cheese for serving

Directions:

1. Cook your pasta and save 1/8 cup of pasta water.
2. Melt butter in the bottom of a large sauté pan.
3. Add in your veggies, starting with the hardier ones (onions, mushrooms, carrots) that requiring a longer cook time followed by less hardy veggies like tomatoes, asparagus, and peppers, and ending with the most delicate veggies like greens.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Add in the lemon.
6. Stir in the pasta.
7. Drizzle in the cream.
8. Let it meld together over the heat for a couple of minutes.
9. Serve with grated parmesan.