I get tired of making pasta with red sauce or creamy sauces. That’s why I developed this quick recipe, with a plethora of fresh herbs and just-harvested spring vegetables, to mark the arrival of the new season. No tomatoes, no cream here. Simply lots of sweet, crunchy sugar snap peas, slender asparagus, bright green peas, and penne pasta. The sauce is emerald green in color, herbaceous, and slightly spicy with the crushed red pepper flakes. The lemon zest adds a citrus note.
I served this to my family the other night, and they all expressed immense satisfaction with the sweet, salty, spicy flavors of this keeper of a pasta dish. You’ll notice that you reserve some pasta water to add to the pasta and vegetables to develop just the right sauce consistency.
This dish is adaptive to other ingredients. Shredded chicken or Italian tuna packed in oil add protein here. You can also include sun-dried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, crumbled feta, or goat cheese in place of the Parmesan cheese.
I had a good amount of food leftover and turned it into a cold pasta salad with extra lemon vinaigrette the next day. If you remove the cheese, you could also add cold shrimp or scallops to the pasta and serve it warm or cold. I enjoyed this pasta dish warm with a baby gem salad with sliced avocado and mango to begin and had a lovely glass of chilled rosé.
Penne Pasta With Spring Green Vegetables and Sauce
Serves 4 to 6
For the Sauce
