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Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times Whole grain pasta with mushroomsTo make a quick meal with spring vegetables, try one of these new pasta dishes from Recipes for Health columnist Martha Rose Shulman. She writes:
The beautiful, sweet vegetables of spring ? artichokes and peas, favas and tender young asparagus, spring garlic and sweet spring onions ? come and go so quickly that I find myself impulse buying at the market and using them up in the simplest of dishes. They beg nothing more than pasta, and that’s a good thing because many of these vegetables are labor-intensive. It’s worth the time it takes to shell the peas, to free the heart of the artichoke from its leaves, to shell and skin favas. Then little more is required than a quick sauté or simmer with aromatics. You can always embellish, though, as I am doing this week with some recipes, with a pesto or, in the case of a baked orzo pastitsio with artichokes and peas, a béchamel.
In most of this week’s recipes, a ladleful of the cooking water from the pasta ? which in many cases has also been used to blanch some of the vegetables ? stands in for a sauce. A small amount of this water, which has become starchy from the pasta, adds just enough moisture and body to the vegetable mix so that when you toss it with the pasta you’ll get a moist, inviting combination that can be finished with cheese or not.
Here are five new ways to spring into pasta.
Orzo With Peas and Parsley Pesto: This is like a pasta version of the classic rice and peas risotto, risi e bisi.
Baked Orzo With Artichokes and Peas: A light yet comforting Greek-inspired dish enriched with béchamel.
Farfalle With Artichokes, Peas, Favas and Onions: The vegetable ragout is a simplified version of a classic Sicilian spring stew.
Penne With Peas, Pea Greens and Parmesan: A beautiful springtime pasta that makes the most of the pea plant.
Whole-Grain Pasta With Mushrooms, Asparagus and Favas: This dish has heft and depth, but still showcases the delicate flavors of spring.
Martha Rose Shulman on healthful cooking.
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