Eat In. Pasta with green vegetables.

I had a delicious pasta dish (Tagliatelle alla Primavera) on Saturday at Gemma in NYC. By Tuesday night, I was trying (and pretty successfully at that) to recreate it in my own kitchen.

Ingredients: Barilla fettuccine, one small squash, half a bunch of asparagus, one clove of fresh garlic, Colavita extra virgin olive oil, butter, Parmesan, salt, and pepper.

Cook pasta according to package instructions (usually about 11 minutes in boiling water). I put a few chunks of butter in the bottom of a large bowl, to toss the pasta with when it finished cooking and was drained.

I cut off the bottoms of the asparagus, then chopped the stalks into about 2-inch sections. With the squash, I cut the ends off, but waited until it was parboiled to slice it into disks.

After the vegetables had cooked (in a saucepan of boiling water) for just a few minutes to slightly tenderize, I drained them and put them in a pan to sauté with the olive oil and chopped garlic. I didn't really time it, but probably something like 5-10 minutes, until they looked cooked, added a little Parmesan, salt, and pepper while the veggies were still in the pan, then added that whole mix atop the lightly buttered pasta, and tossed.

A great thing about this dish is you can use whatever green vegetables you like--peas, broccoli, artichoke, etc.

This version served two, but could easily be altered for any number of people.

If you like the sound of this dish, check out my (also vegetarian) version of Pane e Vino's Fusilli con Melanzane e Scamorza here.

Buon Appetito!

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

Photo credits: the BEAT