15 Minute Recipe - Pasta Primavera

Hi guys , I'm Laura Vitali .

And on this episode of LA in the kitchen , I wanna show you a 20 minute really delicious , really simple pasta that we're gonna do with little lemon .

And it is so delicious .

Uh basically just means spring in Italian .

And I'm really just using some things that are available .

And in season like asparagus zucchini in season , we have so much asparagus growing in Jersey right now around us .

It's insane .

And then it's not quite season , it's not quite tomato season yet .

Close enough and then peas , peas are , are showing up and they are ready to be picked .

I'm using frozen .

Don't come for me .

The problem is , and I've talked to you about this before because I feel like you're my friends .

I've talked to you about my local grocery store just not being the greatest and they don't have fresh peas so just use frozen because if they do have them , then they are just not the best quality , but we are getting a new grocery store soon .

And let me tell you nothing .

Makes a 30 something year old woman who loves cooking , who loves food shopping .

More excited than the prospect of a new amazing grocery store opening up .

Um , and I'm going to , to slice up some salads if you are lucky enough to live , uh , around an area that has an amazing farmer's market where you can get your hands on some ramps , use ramps .

Instead , ramps are kind of like a wild garlic onion mix situation .

They're phenomenal .

They're in season for a very short period of time and when they are , I think everybody should be buying them .

I just don't have access to them otherwise I would be .

So I'm just taking a couple of shallots and I am just going to slice them up .

It takes the same amount of time to really cook this whole thing that it takes for the pasta to come to a boil .

It's really easy and really quick .

We're just looking for things to kind of cook down , develop a little bit of color , but really all together with really good strong extra virgin olive oil makes for something spectacular .

I want you to see the color of extra virgin olive oil and in some cases , I like to use it for cooking when I want a really strong flavor because not a whole lot is gonna go in there to compete .

So we are having very mild things going in there .

Zucchini are mild , asparagus are mild peas are mild .

So I want the strong extra virgin olive oil to really be a great , strong base for the sauce if you will .

So I'm gonna let those do their job .

I am going to do nothing exciting .

Um With the exception of just literally taking a zucchini or two , whatever you wanna use .

And I'm going to thinly slice it into half moons and have that ready .

I'm also gonna chop up some garlic and I'm going to trim my asparagus and have my tomatoes .

Charlottes look great , adding some garlic .

Now , I want you to see how I chopped up the asparagus .

I chopped the ends of the asparagus quite fine just because I find them to be easier to eat and then the tops , I just kind of left them like that because I just think that they look nice .

They're delicious , you know .

Yeah .

Adding that right in .

You don't need to worry about the garlic cooking for too long because this is all gonna saute together anyway .

So it's gonna be fantastic .

I'm gonna add the tomatoes at the last minute because I don't want to lose the shape of the tomatoes if I can help it .

And then the longer the tomatoes cook , the more they'll cook down right .

And to sort of lose that beautiful shape and vibrant color and a good pinch of salt .

You can add whatever you want to , your pasta dish .

You can add anything you want to , anything that you're cooking in a I don't , I personally don't like adding peppers .

I know a lot of people say add some bell peppers for some color .

And although I understand your reason for wanting to do that , I don't because bell peppers are very assertive , they're very strong and they will pretty much uh take over anything you add them in .

So when you are dealing with ingredients like asparagus , like zucchini that are very mild , but also in a way when you cook them really well , they're buttery and they're just delicious .

I , if I were to add pepper , I wouldn't taste any of that .

I would just taste bell pepper .

Not a bad thing .

It's great in the , it's great in the pepper .

Not great for recipes where like I said , the main ingredients are so mild that you'll lose , you'll lose them .

So I leave it out .

But I do get color from tomatoes and these are just like a mixed color of tomatoes , but all red cherry tomatoes would be great .

No worry there .

Veggies look great .

You want that zucchini to be cooked down because when zucchini cooks down , it just gets sweet and buttery and so unbelievably delicious .

I added the pasta to my salted boiling water .

And now what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna add my tomatoes straight in along with .

If I can find my esta , I'm going to add just a little lemon zest .

This will kind of brighten the whole thing and it will be very light and springy tasting and it will remind you that we have made it , we have made it through a long , long , long winter .

Um , and fun times are ahead .

Ok ?

At this point , I'm just gonna keep this on low .

I don't need to like crank this up or anything .

I am gonna hit it with just a little bit of black pepper and I'm just gonna cook the pasta .

It's , and then we'll transfer the pasta into here , we'll pull the whole thing off together .

But about one minute before you take the pasta and you add it in here , I want you to add your frozen piece of , of boiling water so they can practically to frost .

OK ?

I'm ranking the heat up just a little bit on this .

And I'm just gonna take my pasta and I'm just going to use a kitchen spider because I want some of that starchy water .

So I'm happy for it to get in there because I'm gonna add a little bit more of that actually .

And that with the olive oil and any juices and deliciousness at the bottom of that pan , it's gonna create that perfect light delicious sauce that is going to coat the pasta to it .

I'm gonna add some torn basil just to wait until you eat this .

You're gonna be like this is my new summertime .

Go to dish lot of you can even use some .

Just be careful .

Pecorino is really strong and it's assertive .

So again , it's gonna overpower is it a bad thing if cheese is still overpowering , I don't think so .

You make that call , add that in .

I just always happen to have par on hand and I don't always have pecorino .

So it's just my go to and now just give it a stir .

I do want a bit more black pepper , black pepper and zucchini and asparagus and cheese .

Go very well together .

Sort of like cash with pepe situation .

Very good .

And this just needs to kind of all cook together for like a minute or so .

And then we serve maybe a couple of minutes and then we serve , turning this off and it's time .

It's a plate .

This is what I would do .

I would serve it actually right in the pan .

And I would take some and I would take about two or three like balls of and I would just literally set them in there and break them apart .

I'm gonna do it in a dish today just because it's easier for you to see .

And as you eat it and it kind of gets melty and delicious and gooey and just insanely wonderful .

A little bit more extra virgin olive oil , sea weeny , bit more lemon zest more .

And the tiny bit more of a black pepper .

I like heat .

So I need a little bit of that , put that in there too and just , just look at this as you're eating it , especially as you're serving it out .

Of the pan .

You're getting that , you're getting that pasta .

You're getting that veg and all together just works like food magic .

Trust me , it is like , I don't know .

It's just beyond , it's so simple but yet it's so flavorful that just makes everything feel really luxurious .

If you wanted to scoop a little in there as you're serving it up .

I wouldn't be mad at it .

It's sublime .

Go to in the kitchen dot com to get the ring recipe .

You must make this , hope you enjoy spending time with me and I will see you .

Bye bye bye .