Flora’s Pasta Primavera

When Flora, the ancient goddess of growing greenery, shows up this spring you know she’ll be looking vivacious. She’s spring-loaded to deliver all the greenery to life with a healthy dose of invigorating chlorophyll.

When was the last time you enjoyed a dose of chlorophyll?

Chlorophyll’s the green life-sustaining stuff in plants that allows them to absorb energy from the sun.

If you want to absorb energy from the sun make this big green version of the classic springtime primavera pasta for a bright yummy dose of greenery.

INGREDIENTS

Pesto

½ cup toasted Pinenuts

¼ cup Basil leaves

¼ cup Flat leaf parsley leaves

¼ cup mint leaves

zest and juice of 1 lemon

¼ cup olive oil, or more as needed

veggies

3 Broccolini or rapini, cut into 1 inch lengths

10 Snowpeas, cut into 1 inch lengths

2 small zucchinis, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1-inch lengths

½ cup Frozen green peas

2 Green onion, finely sliced

optional cream sauce

1 cup white wine

1 cup heavy cream

4 cloves Garlic

10 little bocincini (little fresh mozzarella balls)

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

pasta

500g dried pasta of choice (penne, bowtie, rotini)

PROCEDURE

The Pesto: In a blender, food processor or mortar combine the pinenuts, herbs, lemon juice and oil. Blend the ingredients to form a smooth pesto.  Add more oil if needed to get desired smooth consistency. This stuff will keep for 2 weeks in an airtight container in the fridge.

The Cream sauce: Get the white wine and garlic cloves into a small pot and put it on high heat. Boil until the liquid reduces by half. Reduce the heat to medium and add the heavy cream while stirring with a whisk to incorporate. When it comes to a slight bubble, you can reduce the heat even more and just let it simmer until the pasta is ready.

The Pasta: Get a huge pot of water over high heat until the water comes to a rip-roaring boil. Add salt so it tastes like the ocean.

Make sure all your veggies are sliced and arranged in little bowls before you start cooking the pasta.

Dump in the pasta. Fussili, rotini and penne all take about 8 minutes. So while the pasta is cooking you will be adding the veggies at key times so they can cook too.

Pasta goes in the water. Start the timer for 8 minutes.

When the timer says 4 minutes remaining add the rapini. Stir it in.

At 3 minutes add the snowpeas and zucchini. Stir it in.

At 1 minute add the frozen peas.

At 0 minute check to make sure the pasta is al dente. Cook one more minute if necessary.

Drain everything into a colander and then immediately dump it all back into the pot. Add the green onions, reduced cream sauce, half the pesto, the little bocincini balls and half the parmesan cheese. Stir it all up.

The bocincini balls will start to melt and make a really nice sticky sloppy green pasta. Serve it up in bowls and with a little scoop of pesto on top and a nice sprinkle of parmesan.

Eat until you are chloro-full.

Serves 4-6 herbivores.