April 23, 2007

PASTA PRIMAVERA


Pasta Primavera is my contribution to Meeta from 'What's for lunch honey's "Monthly Mingle" event.This month's theme is "Spring is in the air".Thanks for hosting Meeta:)




Primavera which literally means "Spring" in Italian and Spanish too(as my daughter,a Spanish student tells me!),is an "Italian American" dish that usually consists of pasta with red tomato sauce and fresh vegetables.Meat such as chicken, sausage etc can be added if you like, but the focus of primavera is the Spring vegetables themselves like Asparagus,Carrots etc.

Pasta: I used Fettuccine pasta for this dish along with lots of vegetables.Other pasta varieties you can use for this dish are Farfalle(Bow tie),Penne, Fusilli and Rotini etc. There is a funny story about this dish which is created by a Italian American in US just like Alfredo sauce and it's not really the same as real Italian dish!!Would like to read about it? Click here!


Pasta Primavera:
Serves 3-4 people.



Vegetables:
I used all kinds of veggies I could find in my fridge and freezer to make this dish.You can do the same too,there are no rules about what to use as long as they are fresh vegetables.I skipped Tomatoes since I didn't want want the sauce to be colored red and I can't see the colors of the other veggies!:)




What you need:
1 tbsp butter or Olive oil,2 clove garlic, minced,2 tsp plain flour,1 cup fat-free Half and Half,1/2 cup stock or water(if needed to thin the sauce),1/4 cup cauliflower,1/4 broccoli,1 med.Zucchini,cut into 3" sticks,1 Celery, 1 carrot, thin 4" strips (use the peeler),1/4 cup Petite peas,1 tbsp sour cream or relish,2 tbsp chopped basil or any seasoning mix you like,salt and pepper,1/4 cup grated Romano/Parmesan cheese.1/2 lb. fettuccine pasta,cooked with salt and drained.


How to make it:


Cook Pasta with salt until almost cooked,drain and keep it ready covered.Prepare the vegetables cut into strips,thaw frozen ones and microwave for 5mins just until tender not cooked completely,drain and keep aside.Heat a large non-stick pan,melt butter or Olive oil.Saute garlic,add the flour and half and half ,mix well.Simmer until thickish.



Add the sour cream,basil,salt ,pepper,taste to adjust the spices.Stir in cheese and mix well.Stir in vegetables,simmer for 2 mins and add pasta and toss everything gently.Sauce should be just coated on the pasta and vegetables.If you find the sauce to thick ,add a bit of stock to thin it.Pasta Primavera tastes better after 3omins.You can serve this warm or chilled.



Your delicious Pasta Primavera is ready!




Enjoy the dish and enjoy the Spring!!

38 comments:

Deepak Gopi said...

First :):)
Looks delicious.

bee said...

wow, ash, it's a while since i visited Aroma and you've been posting some dazzling stuff. thie pasta looks wonderful, and so does tushar's pizza.

FH said...

Yes Deepak,you got in first today!!:)) Thank you.Have a great day.

Roopa said...

wow nice colorful pasta!
hegidira hope you got better now
will check back latter bye
take care:)

Sharmi said...

hey Asha, thats sure looks colorful. nice entry too. must have tasted heaven. the kids must have really enjoyed.

Sia said...

what??? i am late again:(

Sia said...

he he he... its becoming difficult to cath up with u ashakka:) so many recipes posted;)
was busy in weekend. i didn't touch the PC for 2 days!!! can u belive that?;)
wow!!! u can use almost any vegetable for this recipe han? looks like our mixed veg kurma or subjis;) very colourful recipe. donno when i will start cooking pasta at home!

FH said...

Thanks Bee.There are too many events going on these days,got to catch up as fast as I can!:D
Thanks,Pizza is great,hope you try.

Thank you Roopa.I just took a allergy tablet,so I am okay now!!:)))

FH said...

Sharmi,thanks.My kids love these kinda dishes!!It tastes great,you can as many veggies you like,very refreshing if you serve chilled too on a hot day.We had temp upto 83F yesterday here,hot!!!:))

YUP,Sia. I had posted Matki Pulao on Friday morning,so you had to come here twice on Monday!:D
Take a break on weekends,no problem.You can add all the leftover veggies in the fridge for this dish.Why don't you start your first Pasta journey with this dish next weekend?! I am sure you will love it and will get addicted to Pasta!
They are so easy too, quick pasta dinners during the week will be a big help for you and K when you come home tired!:))

Kribha said...

The last few times when I had this dish it was loaded with that usual tomato pasta sauce.Although it is a healthy with all the vegetables in there, still it was nothing different. Your pictures look so good.White sauce is a recipe I've never tried at home. Will try it soon. Thanks Asha.

Pravs said...

This really looks yummy.veggie pasta...my pasta always has non-veg.

Richa said...

hi asha, pasta looks wonderful, love that sauce. I can replace half/half with milk right? cute butterflies flying over the index!
thanks

USHA said...

Hi Ashaji,

Pasta looks really very great....I'm back to my routine life, all my guests left.Today is my brother-inlaw's engagement(India),missing alot.Nostalgic....what i did ,just started watching my engagement CD to compensate it...:))

FH said...

Kribha,the one we get in the restaurant are loaded with butter and heavy cream as well.I cut down everything at home!:))
You can add some fresh tomato slices to this,I just wanted to keep it white.Enjoy.

Hi Pravs,you can add chicken strips as well,tastes great too.Veggie pasta tastes great chilled:))

FH said...

Richa,you absolutely can use the milk,just increase the amount of flour to make it little thicker.Tastes equally great.
Butterflies,flowers and Spring Pasta,a theme going on here!!:D

Hi Usha,back to routine,hah? I know you must be sitting at home missing all fun in India and the yummy food too!Oh well,what can you do? Somebody said it's very very hot in India right now.At least,you are enjoying good weather here.Watch some movies and enjoy.Hugs.

Seema Bhat said...

Asha,
How ya doing and hope you had a lovely weekend. We finally felt it was spring as we had beautiful weekend with the weather raising to high 70's. Pasta looks healthy and good. Somehow nange pasta thinnakke agalla. Adu slimy ansodu hee hee. I know I am missing out on something. This one looks easy and healthy. I should give it a try again.
Thanx
Seema

FH said...

Hi Seema,
we had 83F the whole weekend and we planted lot veggies and ate a lot of Ice cream! It was really great.I had to take a allergy pill in the night bcos I had been out all day.I am okay now!:P
The best way to cook Pasta is to add salt and 1 tsp oil to the water keep the pasta separate ,drain when it's still little undercooked. Add 1 tsp of butter and mix well and then add to the sauce.That way it doesn't get soggy or slimy.Try with a handful of pasta just to experiment a few times.
Pasta dishes are great tasting although full of carb!!:))

sunita said...

Just my kind of pasta...I, too, love to put in a lot of veggies in mine...will try your version sometime...

Ayesha Seerin said...

mmmmm .... I was planning to make fettuccine teday ... was browsing for recipes.. Lo u have posted one .... thanks for the recipe...

FH said...

Hi Suntita,hope you try.It's delicious:))Thanks.

FH said...

You are welcome Ayesha.
What a timing ,eh?:D You can add any veggies you have and Chicken strips too,yum!Enjoy the pasta primavera:)

Anonymous said...

asha, that looks like one happy veggie dish.

Prema Sundar said...

I too made pasta primavera last week!!!!!!!!!!! I got the recipe from a cookbook which I found in the library . It turned out well but a bit different from yours. will post it sometime later. U have got lovely pictures of the recipe...

Gattina Cheung said...

great thinking, omit tomato is better!
This pasta is a kind of dish able to empty the fridge :D

FH said...

Hahaha! Reena,it's true.Very happy veggie dish,you could make it happier by adding chicken and Broccoli too:))

Hi Prema,it's very easy.You can make low fat by replacing the cream with milk.It's tasty,isn't it?:)

Gattina,every pasta dish has tomatoes in some form,so I get tired of it sometimes!:D
This was great,little change is good.

Anonymous said...

The pasta looks delicious and healthy with lots of veggies.

Asha you ROCK !!!

Kajal said...

Hi Asha,
Looks yummy.............
Great picture with nice recipe.
It is most demanding dish.
Thanks for sharing.:)
.........(@U@)........

FH said...

Thanks Sushma:)) I will post for your event Tipology next, for the month of May.

Hi Kajal,you are welcome.Make it and enjoy:))

Suganya said...

Hi,
Ur pasta primavera is nice.....All ur postings are realy good... Ur pasta looks colorful.....Nice pic

FH said...

Thank you Sukanya.Hope you try this pasta:))
Did you check the FH for new post,got dal saag and roti!:)

Anonymous said...

hi Asha,
Came across ur blog while searching for gojju recipe.I wanna try ur Green onion gojju -- what do u mean by yellow split gram --is it dalia(used for preparing chutney) or yellow mung dal.And can u approximately give me how much spring onions to use(measurement of cup).
I have bookmarked ur blog .You have soooo many recipes.i would like to try all of them sometimes.Sorry to be posting my Q HERE

FH said...

That's ok anon,you can ask q's here!:)
Dalia or chutney dal is correct,not the moong dal.
3-4 bunches comes up to about 3 cups after cleaning and chopping spring onions,can't give you exact amount bcos a bunch could have different size onions.Hope that helps.
Next time leave your first name and I would love a feedback!:))

USHA said...

Hi Ashaji,

This 28th is my B'day ,just want to take your wishes and blessings.

Thanks...with love..usha

FH said...

Happy Birthday Usha and I wish you many many more happy and healthy return of the day!:))

Have a great weekend celebration and hugs and kisses to you from me!:))

Suma Gandlur said...

What a beautiful dish!!

FH said...

Thank you Suma,try it:))

Meeta K. Wolff said...

Colorful colorful! Asha you always make the most perfect dishes and glad you could be a part of the MM this month!

FH said...

Oh good! Meeta,I thought somehow you missed my entry!
Thanks,I enjoyed making it too,always glad to participate in your event:)