Well: Spring Pasta Recipes for Health

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times Whole grain pasta with mushrooms

To 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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Quick Study: Walking may prevent memory problems in older people

THE QUESTION Might a regular walking regimen protect against the memory loss that occurs when the brain shrinks in old age?

THIS STUDY involved 299 people who averaged 78 years old and had no cognitive problems at the start of the study. The distances they walked weekly were recorded, MRI scans measured their brains' gray matter (the part of the brain responsible for thinking) and they were given standardized cognitive tests. After 13 years, 116 participants had diagnoses of mild cognitive impairment or dementia. Those who walked six to nine miles a week had greater gray matter volume nine years after the start of the study than those who walked less or not at all; walking farther showed no added benefit. They also were half as likely to have developed memory problems in the 13-year span as were the others.

WHO MAY BE AFFECTED? Older people. Walking has been shown to boost a person's energy and mood, benefit muscles and bones, help control weight and lower the risk for such health problems as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.

CAVEATS Data on walking distances were based on the participants' reports and were obtained only at the start of the study. The study did not rule out that other factors, such as ill health, might have led to reduced amounts of walking and loss of gray matter volume.

FIND THIS STUDY Oct. 19 issue of Neurology.

LEARN MORE ABOUT memory loss at http://www.familydoctor.org/ and http://www.nia.nih.gov/.

- Linda Searing

The research described in Quick Study comes from credible, peer-reviewed journals. Nonetheless, conclusive evidence about a treatment's effectiveness is rarely found in a single study. Anyone considering changing or beginning treatment of any kind should consult with a physician.

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