Did They Eat It: Pasta Primavera

I made this Pasta Primavera from Elise Bauer's Simply Recipes for my book club.

I realized while deciding what to make for this group of women that I'm okay with one food restriction. I can cook vegetarian meals with my eyes closed, but if you add an additional allergy to the mix, I end up running around the kitchen spraying flour on every surface while fretting about what to make.

My book club includes a couple vegetarians (poor things) and a lactose intolerant lady (unfortunate soul), so I'm constantly finding vegetarian recipes that include cheese, or non-cheese dishes that include animal flesh. One of the conditions for membership in our book club, at least in my head, is "You have to at least eat pasta."

Pasta is one of those uniting foods that brings people together over the table. Kind of like the Olympics or sharing outlandish landlord stories. Oh wait that's only at my table!

You know how you can keep asparagus, standing up in water to keep it fresh. Turns out we keep our fridge really cold. That's ice. 

This is an excellent recipe because you can use whatever vegetables are in season. I had asparagus, peas, carrots and grape tomatoes. You could also use zucchini, eggplant, onion and peppers. Or a combination of any of those.

Here it is all jumbled up and ready to serve.

But Did They Eat It?

Logan: I've slowly discerned there is nothing weird in this, although those peas look suspiciously like capers. Still, I'll put it in my mouth.

Maddie: Why do you have to mix everything together and ruin it all? [Eye-Roll]

Max: Sure. I'll eat this. Why not?

I thought this was pretty good, a great way to use up vegetables, especially when you have that last burst of zucchini from the garden. You know, if you actually have a garden.

When I served it at book club it was well received but it had gotten a little soggy while we chatted, ate appetizers and salad. I might keep the sauce and vegetables separate from the pasta until just before serving.

Get the entire recipe at Simply Recipes, here.

Comments

[Robin]

That looks delicious. I'll definitely try it (and by that I mean I'll print out the recipe and have my husband make it).

When my daughter was in first grade, she came home from school and announced, "Sarah can't have milk. She's black-toast intolerant."

Damn that black toast.

[andrea from the fishbowl]

I have to say I really enjoy your "did they eat it" posts. I have similar, um, issues in my household. I just discovered one of my kids (hey, it's more than I could hope for) like to eat edamame. !(!)

[D]

Try cooking for someone who has milk, egg, peanut, tree nut, wheat, barley and pea allergies. Good times. Close to losing my mind.

[melissaS]

That makes me want to die.

[plumwin]

Can I also say that I LOVE these posts and have totally missed them lately. I have an annoying, picky bunch at my house and I always print out your recipes to try them out. If you're asking for reader feedback (which you totally aren't but anyway) I say keep up the recipe tips!

[Olly]

I looked at the picture of that dish and Drooled!!! I would never get to enjoy that here because although my son and I would love it -
1: My husband would poke through it and yell "where's the meat?

2: My daughter would go "oh yuck, I don't like asparagus, tomatoes or zucchini...

[Jenny]

I have no problem getting my kids to eat almost anything. My husband however, hates: tomatoes, capers, onions, sage (WTH?), crunchy things in foods (double WTH?), turkey, plump chicken breast (must be pounded)...oh I could go on and on and on. If I became a McDonald's fry cook he would be one happy man. Sigh.

[Amelia]

Just because it *might* make your life a bit easier, please allow me to pontificate for a moment... When cheese (or yogurt, or any other cultured milk product) is made, the bacteria that causes the culturing actually feeds off of the lactose (sugar) in the milk. Thus, there is very, very little lactose in a finished cheese. Unless your friend is extraordinarily lactose-sensitive, she's likely to be just fine with cheese.

Of course, I love cheese, and can't imagine that anyone would want to mistakenly deny themselves the glory experiencing it.

[SY]

Amelia, I'm lactose intolerant and you're right...most people that are lactose intolerant can eat cheese or yogurt, but only about 1/2 cup per day, so I don't have many restrictions in my diet, I just watch the dairy intake and use soy whenever possible.

[Amy]

We are mostly vegetarian and subscribe to the Six o'Clock Scramble. A lot of the Scramble recipes are vegetarian-friendly, which means you can swap in an alternative protein (like beans, tofu, etc.) or the recipe doesn't have meat to begin with. Very few have cheese. ;) It's a great source of ideas for meals. Some of the things are little too weird for my picky eater (who really doesn't eat anything at all, if he can help it), but my more adventurous child eats almost everything we make from the Scramble and has seconds.

[Tabitha]

I hear you! Trying to please everyone when cooking is impossible! I can barely please myself. http://www.fromsingletomarried.com

[Maia]

You have to be careful about cheese, though -- lower-quality cheeses frequently have milk added after processing, so even though cheese shouldn't have much lactose in it, sometimes it does. Which is just another good reason never to buy cheap cheese.

[nessa]

That looks yummy!

@ D:

Yeah, we are currently in atopic pergatory. We are free of: dairy, soy, gluten, eggs, corn, tree nuts, all seeds, peanuts, all legumes, nightshades (eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers), garlic (!), strawberries, mangoes, citrus.

I am not even sure myself what how we manage to eat three meals a day around here...