The "Perfect" Pasta Primavera

HEP MEP's Note:

Courtesy Of Ms. Jane Brody and her Good Food Cookbook printed in 1985. We loved this stuff,and I made it a lot on weekends, especially in the summer when vegetables were cheap and abundant,before that Kiddo came along. I'd usually make more pasta,since I was going through all the work anyway,and more of the vegetables we liked the best. It would usually last us for about 3 meals. It is very time consuming, but,really worth it when you're finished. And like any recipe, feel free to add any other vegetable or seasoning you like.

• Total Time: 2 hrs
• Prep Time: 1 hrs
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 cup broccoli floret, steamed for 5 minutes
• 1 cup asparagus, cut in 1 inch pieces,steamed for 5 minutes
• 1 cup sugar snap peas or 1 cup snow peas, blanched for one minute
• 1 medium zucchini or 1 medium summer squash, unpeeled,sliced in half lengthwise,then cut into 1 inch chunks and blanched for 1 minute
• 1 cup corn kernel (canned,or if fresh or frozen,blanched)
• 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic (about 3 large cloves)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 -2 tomato, diced
• 1/2 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 cup shredded carrot
• 1/4 cup finely minced parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 12 ounces regular spaghetti or 12 ounces whole wheat spaghetti or 12 ounces linguine

SAUCE

• 2 teaspoons butter or 2 teaspoons margarine
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 cup skim milk or 1 cup 1% low-fat milk
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup finely minced fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil

Directions:

1. Stem or blanch the various vegetables (broccoli,asparagus,peas,zucchiniø- or squash,and corn) as indicated, combine them and keep them warm.
2. In a skillet, saute the garlic in the oil for 1 minute,but do not brown.
3. Add the tomatoes,mushrooms,carrot,parsle and pepper,and cook the mixture for about 5 minutes.
4. Add this to the reserved vegetables, tossing ingredients gently to combine them well.
5. To prepare the sauce, in a small heavy saucepan, melt the butter or margarine,and add flour,whisking the roux over med.
6. -lowheat for 1 minute- gradually add the milk and broth,stirring constantly till the sauce thickens slightly.
7. Stir in the Parmesan and basil,and heat the sauce over med.
8. -lowflame,stirring until cheese is melted.
9. Pour the sauce over the veggie mixture and toss gently to coat.
10. Cook the spaghetti or linguine al dente,drain and keep warm.
11. Place the cooked pasta in a large warmed bowl and spread the veggie and sauce mixture over the pasta, toss the the pasta gently,once or twice, and serve with additional Parmesan, if desired.

Reviews

[Chef #1060806]

I'm not leaving any stars because I don't know what went wrong. I doubled the sauce recipe, but it didn't thicken, and the cheese didn't melt, just clumped. The flavor was good, but the sauce was way too thin, and there were little mounds of cheese everywhere.

[NNChick]

I made this pasta primavera recipe last night and it came out delicious! I used half parsley half cilantro so I got both flavors. I used shallots instead of regular onion, and I also used shredded Parmesan instead of grated. I had all the veggies except peas.. so I skipped the peas.

I used bowtie pasta just for fun! (I included a photo even though I'm not very good at capturing the beauty of the food). The sauce came out very well. I read someone's review that said it was too thin... so I watched it carefully and very slowly added a little more flour. I added "too much" basil by mistake, but found that more basil was spot-on and delicious!
Once the cheese was added it worked like a charm.

Thanks for this recipe. I added it to my bookmarks to use again!