Pasta Primavera

We had an event at work on Friday, and we had tons of vegetables left from the crudite platters. I couldn't stand to see them go to waste, so I brought home a bag of veggies. Yesterday, we had beautiful sunny, warm weather that felt like Spring, and the weather inspired us to make a pasta primavera with the veggies.

Because we acquired the vegetables already cut up, this was a really quick meal. My husband even declared that is was "the simplest dinner ever." It was delicious too. The rich sauce balances nicely with the fresh vegetables, and a pinch of red pepper flakes adds just a big of heat.

We placed our bamboo steamer over the pasta pot, and loaded it up with the vegetables.

The whole dinner was ready in 15-20 minutes and was ready to enjoy. We chose farfalle pasta (bow ties) which seemed appropriate for Oscar night.

Pasta Primavera
serves 4

1 lb farfalle pasta
1 T butter
6 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
4 C vegetables, cut into bite size pieces
1 pint half and half
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1/4 C Parmesan cheese
salt to taste

Start the pasta water. Prepare vegetables. Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed skillet and add the garlic. Cook the garlic until soft. Add the pasta to the boiling water, and place bamboo steamer over the pot. Add vegetables and cover. Cook the vegetables until they are crisp but tender (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and place in a mixing bowl. Once the garlic is tender, lower the heat and add cream, red pepper and Parmesan cheese. Cook over low heat, whisking regularly (to ensure the sauce doesn't break) until it thickens. The sauce and pasta should be done about the same time. Add everything to the mixing bowl and stir to combine. It's ready to serve.

Some other easy variations include adding artichoke hearts, pesto, or pureed roasted red pepper.

This week's menu:
Monday - out to eat after a prenatal appointment
Tuesday - Turkey breast stuffed with mushrooms, quinoa and broccoli
Wednesday - Fire chicken with salad
Thursday - Salmon with mustard glaze
Friday - leftovers

This post is part of My Meatless Mondays, Monday Mania at the Healthy Home Economist, Meatless Mondays at Midnight Maniac, and Menu Plan Monday at Orgjunkie.

Chicken Scampi

I mentioned yesterday that my husband and I are feeling a bit under the weather. Not bad enough to keep me home from a wedding shower I had to attend, but yucky enough to want to stay home and eat comfort food after it was over.

I was at a total loss for dinner ideas, but my husband came up with the idea of chicken scampi, and that sounded perfect to me. Later he confessed that he was inspired by his lunch on Friday. Apparently he forgot to eat breakfast before he left for work, and he felt like a treat by the time lunch rolled around. He went to Urban Lobster Shack and got a lobster roll scampi style. The chicken scampi wasn't the most photogenic meal, but it was quick and delicious. The combination of butter, garlic, lemon and white wine is always a hit with me. I'm allergic to shell fish, so this is how he translated it for me.

Chicken Scampi
1 lb chicken, chopped
1 C flour
salt and pepper
olive oil
2 T butter
2 T garlic
2 T oregano
1 C white wine
juice of half a lemon
pasta
Parmesan cheese

Start a large pot of water for the pasta. Season flour with a pinch of salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour. Coat a hot skillet with olive oil and add chicken. Cook until the chicken is done (about 5 minutes, but it depends on the size of your pieces). Remove chicken from the pan. Start the pasta. Add butter, garlic, oregano, wine to the same pan used for the chicken. Cook over medium-low heat for one minute while scraping off any flour from the chicken to help thicken your sauce. Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice. Add chicken back to the pan and combine with sauce. Serve over pasta. Garnish with Parmesan cheese and an extra shake of oregano.

A guest in the house

I'm reading the book, Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen, by Laurie Colwin. It's a series of short essays that offers recipes and humorous stories. Yesterday on my subway ride home, I read the chapters on her worst cooking experiences and the worst meals she's eaten at other people's homes. I was just innocently reading the next chapters in the book, but this might have affected me.

When I got home, I made dinner for my husband, a potential business partner, and myself. The plan was to serve a simple dinner of ravioli with a quick fresh tomato sauce and a side of sauteed broccoli rabe with garlic. My husband planned to pick up the ravioli on his way home from the Piemonte Ravioli Co. It turns out that they close at 5:00 and not 6:00, so we had to settle for dried pasta.

We saved 6 pakoras from the night before, and I quickly reheated them in a hot saute pan and served them with the mint and cherry chutneys. This bought me some time while I prepared the rest of the dinner. I quickly washed and chopped up the 2 bunches of broccoli rabe and dropped it into our large skillet. As it began cooking, it shrank, and shrank, and shrank down to almost nothing. I knew that it was not enough for three people, so I added in the greens from a bunch of turnips. This too shrank down to very little, so I decided to make an additional side of carrots. Of course we only had a few small carrots, but I sauteed them and tossed them with lemon juice and cilantro. Meanwhile, I put the pasta in boiling water, and started my sauce. Two tomatoes chopped up and several cloves of garlic sliced went into a sauce pan with a generous amount of olive oil. I soon realized that this was not enough for the pound of pasta I had cooking.

All this time I was trying to be really quiet and not disturb them, but I was unsuccessful. It reminded me of the early morning when you are trying to tip-toe around and not wake the other people in the house, but you invariably drop things, trip over chairs, etc. That was me in the kitchen last night. I was dropping pots, spoons, getting myself all wet, and I was very self-conscious because they were having a technical discussion only 4 feet away (because our apartment is really small). My husband reassures me that he didn't even notice, so maybe I was being overly self-conscious.

In the end, the dinner was fine. We had pasta with a light tomato, garlic and basil sauce with carrots and greens, but it was very stressful getting there. I realized that I'm not used to cooking for 3 (cooking for more somehow isn't a problem) and for someone I have never met.

Pasta with Scapes and Broccoli Rabe

We continued to look abroad for inspiration for ways to eat up our greens. Tonight we decided on Italy. My husband picked up some fresh pasta and Parmesan cheese on his way home, and we had some garlic scapes and broccoli rabe to eat up from the share.


Garlic scapes are the flower stems produced by garlic plants before the bulbs mature. They have a fresh, light garlic flavor. In the photo, the chopped up scapes are cooking in butter. Here is our recipe:

Fresh Pasta with Garlic Scapes and Broccoli Rabe
2 bunches of broccoli rabe, sliced in 1 inch wide strips
1 bunch garlic scapes, finely chopped
4 T butter
1 lb fresh pasta
grated Parmesan cheese

Steam the broccoli rabe and set aside. Cook the pasta and drain. Melt the butter over medium heat and add the scapes. Cook until tender, about 3-4 minutes. Add the pasta and broccoli rabe to the pan and toss to combine. Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese over the top.


The results were very satisfying. The broccoli rabe is slightly bitter, but this tasted great with the richness of the butter, the garlicky scapes, and firm pasta. A great meal for early summer.

On to another greens dish tomorrow.