When you prepare it with the help of your children or grandchildren, Pasta Primavera becomes special. This adaptation of a recipe by Jacques Pépin gives you the opportunity to share in making a simple, tasty dish. It teaches the young ones in your life about the joys of fresh, seasonal ingredients. There’s nothing better than watching their faces light up as they savor all the vibrant flavors.
Hello, my Friends. Chef Blondie here. – Spring is here! What could be better than making a dish with a name that literally means Springtime? Today, my Test Kitchen staff and I tried out the versatile pasta dish called Pasta Primavera. Jacques Pépin adapted a recipe made by his friend Ed Giobbi. Jacques so loved the recipe that it appears in at least four of his cookbooks.
Now that our test is complete, we understand why Jacques has devised so many tasty variations of this recipe. – This is a perfect springtime dish. You’re going to love it!
Why This Recipe Works
There is a type cooking freedom and freestyle celebrated in this dish. The ingredient list for this recipe is not set in stone. Rather, it is set in springtime, or whatever season it may be when you choose to make it.
In the four recipe variations we reviewed, there was the simple theme – choose the vegetables you like from what’s fresh in your garden or available in the store.
Cooking with Your Children & Grandchildren
Of the four recipe variations available to the Serendipity Farmhouse Test Kitchen staff, we selected one that Jacques calls Bow-Tie Pasta in Garden Vegetable Sauce for our test. This recipe appears in A Grandfather’s Lessons: In the Kitchen with Shorey. We thought it important to remind folks that cooking with the young ones in your life can be such a great gift. (See our post: Jacques’s Macaroni and Cheese – How to Cook with your Grandchildren.)
Resources for Jacques’s Pasta Primavera
Here are several Pasta Primavera recipe variations presented by Jacques Pépin:
- Pasta Primavera, Jacques Pépin’s Simple and Healthy Cooking, 1994, p. 208
- Summertime pasta, Jacques Pépin – Fast Food My Way, 2004, p. 110
- Bow-Tie Pasta in Garden Vegetable Sauce, A Grandfather’s Lessons: In the Kitchen with Shorey, 2017, p. 110
- Pasta Primavera Ed, Jacques Pépin – Quick & Simple, 2020, p. 122
Bow-Tie Pasta in Garden Vegetable Sauce
Notes
Note 1: Other pastas such as penne, spaghetti, or fusille can be used instead.
Ingredients
For the Vegetable Sauce
- ⅔ cup frozen baby peas, defrosted
- ⅔ cup frozen corn kernels, defrosted
- 2 ripe tomatoes (about 12 ounces total), cut into ½-inch dice (2½ cups)
- ½ cup cleaned and diced (½-inch) white mushrooms (about 2)
- ⅓ cup coarsely chopped mild onion, such as Vidalia or Maui
- ⅓ cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
For the Pasta
- 12 ounces bow-tie or farfalle pasta (Note 1)
- ⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving, if desired
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Cook the pasta according to the manufacturer’s instructions or to your liking. Drain, reserving a cup of the pasta water.
- The vegetables are combined in a bowl and seasoned with salt, pepper, and oil (this can be done ahead).
- Then, at the last moment, the vegetables are heated briefly in a microwave oven before they are tossed with the hot pasta and cheese.
- Add the drained pasta to the bowl with the vegetables; toss well, adding additional cheese and loosening the mixture with the reserved pasta water, as needed.
- Spoon into bowls, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with more parsely. Serve immediately.
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