Today is the third day of spring, although we’re having a late winter storm in New England and the ground is covered with a layer of snow. We are located in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 6A and usually don’t plant our vegetable gardens or annuals until Memorial Day weekend to insure they survive. (The USDA Plant Hardiness map is based on 30-year averages of the lowest annual winter temperatures at specific locations.) But now (well, when the snow melts) is the time to start thinking about adding nutrition to the soil in your raised garden beds. The easiest way to do this is to add a few inches of composted manure or rich topsoil to the garden beds and rake it in. Once your soil is ready, you can begin planting vegetables that relish cool weather like arugula, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, and peas. These vegetables can be sowed directly into the soil and should be watered daily until they sprout.  If you don’t water them daily, they can dry out and shrivel up. Once they have grown their secondary leaves, you can add organic fertilizer to the garden. If you add this too soon, it can burn those new, delicate leaves. Vegetables like tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, eggplant, green beans, and beets can be started indoors or you can purchase starter plants from your local nursery. These vegetables can be transferred to the garden when all danger of frost has passed.  

The Food Pantry in the town where I live has a community garden that grows fresh produce for our shoppers. Occasionally some of the shoppers ask me how to prepare a certain vegetable or what dish they can make with the vegetables.

One of my favorite recipes for early spring vegetables is Pasta Primavera (“primavera” means spring in Italian). This may sound like an Italian dish, but it was actually created by New York restauranteur Sirio Maccioni’s restaurant Le Cirque. It was made famous in an article written for the New York Times by Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey in 1977 which included a recipe for the dish.

I like to use a variety of tender spring vegetables with lots of different colors: peas, asparagus, broccoli, carrots, red and yellow bell peppers, zucchini and scallions. And although you could add them to your choice of pasta and dress with olive oil, I like a light cream sauce that clings to the pasta.

Pasta Primavera

Ingredients:

16 oz penne pasta (or shape of your choice)

Instructions:

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

8 oz asparagus, cut into I ½ inch pieces

1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

2 cups small broccoli florets

1 small zucchini, sliced

8 cherry tomatoes, halved

2 scallions, sliced at a diagonal

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1 cup frozen peas

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup heavy cream

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons lemon juice 

Salt and pepper to taste

Chopped fresh basil

Crushed red pepper flakes, optional

Instructions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon salt and pasta to boiling water. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Drain well, reserving ½ cup of pasta water. Pour the pasta back into the pot and cover to keep warm.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the asparagus, peppers, zucchini and broccoli. Sprinkle vegetables with garlic salt and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the cherry tomatoes and scallions and cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until vegetables are tender, but still crisp. Transfer the vegetables to a large plate or bowl.
3. Make the cream sauce. Place the skillet back on the stove. Melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the heavy cream and ½ cup of Parmesan. Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Cook until smooth. Add reserved pasta water If needed to thin the sauce.
4. Pour the lemon cream sauce over the pasta. Add sauteed vegetables and peas and gently stir until well combined. Season with salt and black pepper, to taste. 
5. To serve, garnish with chopped basil, extra Parmesan cheese, and crushed red pepper flakes. Serve warm.