Simple Spring Pasta isn’t going to win any awards in the novelty department, but who needs additional novelty right now? I for one would welcome a few hours of (hunts frantically for an adjective, fails to find one) ….serenity? Quiet? Normalcy? (That’s a good one.)
There….serenity. I have to laugh, as this was taken near Oakland Airport, which is in a terrible part of town.
Regardless of what I want, there is pasta. Which is still cheap, still a crowd pleaser, and still the kind of vegetarian dish where nobody misses the meat.
“Simple Spring Pasta” is a deliberately vague title, allowing you to include whatever vegetables are preferred and available. (See also: cheap.) My recipe includes frozen peas, fresh yellow squash, zucchini, garlic, artichokes, and feta cheese.
If you cannot get fresh artichokes, frozen artichoke bottoms will work. Avoid pickled artichokes in jars; pickled is not what we’re after here. If artichokes completely elude you, consider using green beans, spinach, mixed fresh salad greens, parsley, or eggplant.
If you have access to fresh artichokes, you can prepare them two ways. The first is to trim the vegetable and boil it. By this I mean removing the outer leaves, trimming the sharp tops of the inner leaves, paring the outside bits of the stem, and removing the hairy outer choke.
The second method calls for radically cutting away at the artichoke until you reach the heart. Slice the heart thinly, and include it when you saute the other vegetables.
I always parboil artichokes. I’d much rather cook the whole vegetable and use the remainder at another meal.
However you decide to deal with the artichoke, you can do it up to three days ahead of time, or just before preparing the pasta. You can also scrape the artichoke “meat” from the cooked leaves and include it in the pasta, a chore that sounds far worse in the writing than the doing.
As noted, I boiled my two artichokes. Once that was done, I prepped the rest of the vegetables. The photos of this are poor. Instead, a vegetable prep photo that is unrelated to today’s post but nicer to look at.
Then I heated olive oil, cheap white wine, and a little butter in a saute pan. Riveting stuff, right?
From there I let the vegetables cook down while I got on with the pasta–a scant pound of penne.
Many cookbook writers recommend reserving some pasta cooking water. A scant cup of this starchy water is useful should your pasta sauce be dry. Other cooks, Nigella Lawson amongst them, save pasta cooking water for bread baking. However you use it, please remember this is boiling hot water. Don’t scald yourself. You have been warned.
Taste the vegetable sauce for salt and acid. It may need both.
I am from the “mix everything together” school of serving. Others prefer their sauces draped delicately atop their pasta. Now is also the time to add the feta, if you’re using it, and to scatter parsley about, should you have some.
Simple Spring Pasta is a meal in itself at my house, but a salad is never a bad idea. Nor is bread. A wedge of Parmesan at the table is always welcome, too.
Simple Spring Pasta
Prep Time: If you include fresh artichokes, about one hour. If you don’t use artichokes, 15-20 minutes to prep the vegetables and 10 minutes to cook the pasta.
Yield: feeds 2-4, depending on what else is being served.
The ingredients given below are suggestions. Please feel free to substitute using vegetables available to you. Simple Spring Pasta should be just that–simple. Also inexpensive and easy to prepare.
2 medium sized artichokes
1 lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
a little unsalted butter (optional)
1/4 cup/4 ounces/113 ml cheap white wine, light broth, or water
1-2 large garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
1 medium sized yellow squash
1 medium sized zucchini
8 ounces/227 grams fresh or frozen peas
salt and pepper
1 pound/464 grams penne or other dried tubular pasta
salt and pepper
lemon juice (optional)
fresh parsley (optional)
hunk of feta cheese or your preferred cheese
Prepare the artichokes: up to three days in advance
Place a medium pot of lightly salted water on the stove to boil. Halve the lemon. Squeeze both halves into the water and toss the spent halves into the pot.
Prepare the artichoke by breaking off the outer leaves until you reach light green leaves. Trim the tops of these using a sharp knife or scissors. Open the artichoke carefully, exposing the hairy choke. Using a melon baller or grapefruit spoon, scrape the hairy choke out, taking care not to take the artichoke heart with it. If your artichoke had a long stem, keep it–the stem is an extension of the heart and is delicious.
Toss the prepared artichoke into the pot and prepare the second artichoke the same way.
Cover the pot and cook the artichokes at a lively bubble for at least 45 minutes. Check them at 30 minutes, turning them over with a large fork if necessary. To test for doneness, carefully slide a chopstick, cooking fork, or knife into a piece. If you meet no resistance, the artichoke is done.
Remove artichokes to a strainer. Allow them to cool completely.
Meanwhile, get on with preparing the squash and zucchini.
I did not peel the vegetables, as they were organic. The decision is yours; if you don’t peel, be sure to wash thoroughly. Slice the squash into coins, smash and peel your garlic, and have your peas to hand.
As noted in the post, you can use the entire artichoke in this dish, or you can save the leaves for another meal. To use the leaves, scrape the “meat” off each with a small knife. This sounds hideous but goes quickly. Add it to the vegetables. I opted to use the leaves in another meal, so simply tugged them free of the heart–they come away easily–and refrigerated them.
The two artichoke hearts and their stems were sliced and added to the saute pan of vegetables, discussed below.
Place a saute pan on the stove. I used a Calphalon pan measuring 14 inches/35 cm. Pour in the olive oil and the butter, if using. Put the heat on medium and add the garlic. Allow to cook without browning for a minute or two.
Add the artichoke hearts, if using, the squashes, and frozen peas. Turn up the heat a bit. Add the wine, or whatever liquid you’re using, and stir. Salt and pepper lightly. Cover. Allow the vegetables to simmer gently, 20-30 minutes. This is a question of how well cooked you like your squash. Taste for salt and pepper. You might also like to add a squeeze of lemon, should you have any left.
Start your pasta now, following the package directions but not cooking the stuff so al dente it sticks to your dental work.
Before draining the pasta, carefully reserve a scant cup of cooking water. Drain the pasta, and either serve it immediately, or tip it back into the pot. I tip it back into the hot pot, add the vegetables, stir, then add the feta cheese and parsley. Purists warm their plates and so on, but many purists also have dishwashers and able-bodied spouses.
Returning to the cup of starchy water. Should the pasta become dry, or gummy, or need loosening, add a bit, or more than a bit of the water to the pasta. Viola!
Serve Simple Spring Pasta with bread and a salad. Or all by itself.
Refrigerate pasta in a covered container up to four days. Do not freeze.
Notes:
By medium-sized artichoke, think about 6 ounces, or 170 grams. This is not cast in stone. Obviously you can only buy what is available.
By medium-sized squash, I mean don’t purchase baseball bats. Or baby vegetables.
My peas were frozen.
Feel free to use other cheeses. You can never go wrong with Parmesan.
Leftover pasta cooking water may be used for bread baking.
Below, a sinkie. (As opposed to a selfie.)
Thank you for reading.
