I won’t lie to you…

Photo by Matt Hocking

Yeah, this is not one of my simpler recipes. There are lots of steps, ingredients and components. There is no way you are going to make this successfully while your children or black lab (also your child) are tugging on your leg for attention. But there is a silver lining.

Photo by Sam Armocido

If…you can clear the clutter and have a little alone time, you can wrap your head around the five components of this recipe: fresh veggies, tomatoes, pasta, mushroom cream sauce and garnishes. And, none of these components take and serious technical chops. There’s definitely a team building exercise in here (take that trust falls!) with trying to stay organized under pressure.

At the end of the day remember it’s just cooking. Relax, pour a glass of wine that there is no way you will get back to until you’ve finished cooking but you’ll feel better for having poured it, visualize the steps once, then again, and get cooking. This is sooooo delicious and worth every bit of work.

Pasta Primavera

Serves 6

This is Primavera at it’s best with truly seasonal, bright spring ingredients. A sauce of sweet cream is light yet rich without dulling the farm-fresh vegetables. There are a number of components here. Read the directions twice before starting :)

Photograph by Sam Armocido

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb asparagus, chopped in 2” pieces, about 1 1/2 cups

• 1 1/2 cups halved snow peas

• 3 tbs olive oil, divided

• 5 cloves garlic, minced, divided

• 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes, divided

• 2 cups halved cherry tomatoes, about 1 quart

• Aged balsamic vinegar

• 1/2 pound farfalle or fettuccini

• 2 tbs butter

• 5-6 large Shitake mushrooms, sliced (or Morels if you are lucky enough to find them!)

• 3/4 cup cream

• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

Directions:

Cook the asparagus and snow peas: In a 6 quart pot of salted boiling water, blanch asparagus for 2 minutes. Add snow peas and cook 1 minute longer. Remove vegetables to an ice bath leaving the cooking water in the pot. (You can do this ahead of time)

Warm 2 tbs oil in a 12” skillet over medium-low heat. Sauté half of the garlic and half of the pepper flakes until garlic turns golden. Add the blanched asparagus and snow peas to the skillet. Sauté 2 minutes longer. Remove vegetables from pan and reserve.

Cook the tomatoes: Return pan to medium heat with remaining 1 tbs olive oil. Add the remaining pepper flakes and garlic and cook 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add tomatoes, increase heat to medium, and cook until softened, 5-7 minutes. Deglaze pan with 1-2 tbs aged balsamic vinegar. Reserve.

Cook the mushrooms and begin the sauce: Return skillet to medium heat and add butter to melt. Add shitake mushrooms and cook until softened. Add cream and bring to a simmer.

Cook the pasta: Boil pasta in vegetable water until it is slightly firmer than al dente, just lightly undercooked. Drain, reserving 1 cup of cooking liquid.

Finish the sauce: Add pasta and cooking water to the cream in the skillet. Simmer until sauce is thickened. Stir in cheese.

Combine the components and serve: Toss the pasta with the asparagus and snow peas, and serve topped with the sautéed tomatoes, additional cheese and pine nuts.

Tip: Stir in the cheese right before serving or it will settle to the bottom of the pan and stick there.