Yummy Experiment #29: Pasta Primavera

I followed the recipe for Pasta Primavera from the The MediterrAsian Way book for our dinner this evening.

Acknowledgement: The full and original version of this recipe can be found in The MediterrAsian Way: A Cookbook and Guide to Health, Weight Loss, and Longevity, Combining the Best Features of Mediterranean and Asian Diets. Feel free to visit their website mediterrasian.com. In addition, I took the photographs from this post. If you think it’s nice enough to use, please let me know.

You will need the following ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons pine nuts
• 1 pound penne
• 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 red onions, finely chopped (I only used 1 red onion.)
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 20 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 16 fresh asparagus spears, bottoms trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces (I didn’t include this in my experiment because I didn’t like the asparagus from the grocery last night.)
• 24 green beans, ends trimmed, halved
• 1 cup frozen green beans, thawed
• 8 button mushrooms, sliced (Not in this experiment. Couldn’t find button mushrooms. I used the sliced mushrooms from the produce section.)
• 4 tablespoons fresh basil, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup white wine (I used Riesling. We had a bottle here at home.)
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• grated Parmesan cheese

The first thing you should do before anything else is toast the pine nuts and boil the pasta. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to take pictures of these two steps. Anyway, just heat your skillet on medium and add the pine nuts. Stir the nuts around the skillet for a minute and then put it aside. You will use the pine nuts later. Boil the pasta.

Get a different skillet and put 4 tablespoons olive oil on medium heat. Add the red onions and cook for 5-6 minutes.

Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Add the tomatoes and green beans then cook for two minutes.

Add the green peas and cook for 1 minute.

Add the mushrooms.

Then the basil, salt and pepper…

…and finally add the wine. Cook for five minutes.

Add the leftover olive oil (2 tablespoons) and the pine nuts toasted earlier. Keep stirring to mix everything together.

Check your pasta for doneness and drain in a colander. Put all the vegetables from the skillet into the pot where you cooked the pasta and then add the pasta again. Mix well.

Put on a plate or bowl and top with grated Parmesan cheese. Another healthy meal experiment courtesy of The MediterrAsian Way! Second experiment, so far, so good!

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