Pasta Primavera

You'll love this flavor packed pasta recipe, full of bright, healthy ingredients! It's versatile too, serve it warm or chilled. One of the things that makes this dish so lovely is varying the cuts of the vegetables, which provides great mouth feel, texture and flavor.

Serves 2, scale up for more servings.

PASTA PRIMAVERA RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/3 pound linguine, cooked to al dente, drained, leaving a tablespoon of liquid in the pan with the pasta (see note below)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced (more or less depending on taste preference)

• a few buds of broccoli, thinly sliced

• a few small red, yellow, orange sweet peppers, sliced into thin strips

• 1/2 cup red onion, in small ringlets

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1/2 cup kalamata olives, drained, sliced in half

• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

• 1/2 cup cucumber, sliced in 1/4 inch rounds (leave on peel, use organic and wash thoroughly before use)

• a tiny dash of sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

• 2 tablespoons grated cheese, such as Parmigiano Reggiano

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh herbs, such as oregano, basil, parsley

DIRECTIONS:

1. Boil pasta while you sauté the vegetables. When pasta is done, drain, leaving a few tablespoons of water in the pan with the pasta. Stir pasta and place in a medium bowl to use once vegetables are done.

2. In a medium sauté pan, over slightly less than medium heat, add olive oil.

3. Once oil begins to warm, stir in garlic and cook for several seconds.

4. Add sliced broccoli, raise heat to medium, and sauté until broccoli brightens in color and softens slightly.

5. Add sliced peppers, red onion and lemon juice.

6. Cook for a minute, than stir in olives, tomatoes and cucumber.

7. Saúte for an additional few minutes until vegetables are bright and somewhat tender.

8. Add sugar and red pepper flakes, stir well to blend all ingredients.

9. Remove from heat. Add the butter, and cover the pan to allow the butter to melt. Remove the cover after several seconds and stir butter into mixture.

10. Check for salt and heat preference.

11. Serve warm or chilled as directed below.

To serve WARM:

Place the warm pasta on 2 serving plates. Top pasta with vegetables. Sprinkle with grated cheese and fresh herbs.

To serve CHILLED:

Add vegetable mixture to the bowl of pasta and toss well. Refrigerate. To serve, plate and top with grated cheese and fresh herbs.

Pasta Note: You may have heard that ingredients "stick" to pasta better if you leave a bit of the pasta water with the pasta, meaning drain all the water but allowing a few tablespoons of water to remain. This is done because the pasta water contains starch, which helps the pasta to bind with other ingredients.

A bright and beautiful dish, serve as a main course or a side. The pasta is perfectly paired with my country crust bread, recipe here.