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Lemon Pasta Primavera

This is two dishes in one! A bright and easy lemon pasta which will satisfy in mere moments, even late night cravings. And then use it as a base for roasted spring vegetables for a light and hearty meal.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian, North American
Keyword lemon pasta, pasta primavera, spring vegetables
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings 1

Ingredients

Lemon Pasta, for one (adjust easily as you add more mouths you are feeding!)

  • 2 oz or so dried pasta (your fave, or whatever is handy)
  • 1 lemon, zested and juiced
  • 1 1/2 tbsp butter
  • 1 small to medium garlic clove, minced
  • 2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
  • black pepper, or even lemon pepper seasoning
  • 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley or basil

Pasta Primavera, for one, adjust up easily

  • 1 1/2 cups chopped vegetables, see Notes
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Instructions

Lemon Pasta

  1. Bring a pot of water to a boil, adding a GOOD amount of salt: you want the water to have enough real flavour to impart to the pasta. Add the pasta and cook al dente or pleasant to eat.

  2. Just before the pasta is ready, place the butter, garlic and half the lemon zest in a skillet over medium heat. If you are feeding a few, use a pot instead. Melt the butter and cook the garlic to remove the raw flavour. You don't want to brown it, just soften the flavour.

  3. Use tongs or a spider to transfer the cooked pasta straight from the boiling water into the butter, any pasta water clinging to the pasta is good. Don't discard the remaining pasta water.

  4. Add 2 tbsp of the lemon juice, and the grated parmesan cheese in with the pasta and butter. Toss everything till well coated.

  5. Add more pasta water if needed, 1 tbsp at a time till the pasta has a lovely sheen. Toss in most of the chopped herbs, and season with pepper.

  6. Taste. Do you want more lemon zest? More pepper? More parm? Go for it!

  7. Plate and garnish with more parm, lemon zest and herbs as desired.

Pasta Primavera

  1. Start the vegetables before the pasta above
  2. Preheat the oven to 425F.
  3. Place all the chopped vegetables in a bowl and drizzle with one or two teaspoons of olive oil. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Spread out in one layer on a baking sheet. Use two if needed.

  4. Bake in the oven till softened and just starting to brown. They don't need to char, but they do need to be easy to pierce with a fork and are pleasant to eat. The tomatoes should be ready to burst, they should already be blistering. This may take about 25 minutes or so. Take out of the oven.

  5. Begin the Lemon Pasta above about 10 minutes before the vegetables are finished roasting.
  6. When the pasta, and lemon garlic butter sauce are ready to be tossed together, gently fold in the roasted vegetables.
  7. Use reserved pasta water to ensure that the sauce is loose and the pasta has a lovely sheen.
  8. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley or basil, extra parmesan cheese, and lemon zest.
  9. See blog post for more details and serving suggestions.

Recipe Notes

If making the Pasta Primavera, use a pasta that will balance the vegetables: farfalle, penne, bucatini, anything with substance will work better than say angel hair pasta.
Primavera Vegetables: use fresh asparagus, fava beans, ramps, yellow zucchini, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, spring peas, snow peas, green beans, etc. Remove any woody stems or ends. Cut larger vegetables into bite sized pieces. Radishes, brussels sprouts etc should be trimmed and quartered if on the larger size. Longer veggies like beans and asparagus should be cut into 1 inch lengths. Just make sure everything is in large bite sized pieces, they will shrink slightly as they roast in the oven.
Add grilled shrimp, leftover rotisserie chicken, even canned fish like tuna or sardines for a fun meal.