Pasta Primavera (B)

September 22, 2006 at 6:54 am (B_minus (2.5 stars), Cruciferous rich, Pasta, Starches, Vegetable dishes)

Pasta primavera is one of those dishes like spinach lasagna that I remember fondly from my youth, but never seems all that exciting when I try to make it nowadays. This particular attempt came out pretty well however. It doesn’t live up to my memories of course, but it was tasty nonetheless.

Instructions
I started my whole wheat pasta going (6 ounces), then sauted

• 1/2 Tbs. olive oil
• 1 cup broccoli stalks

Once the stalks started to soften and brown I added:

• 4 cups broccoli florets
• a bit of salted water

Meanwhile I prepared

• 1 small zucchini, grated
• 1 small carrot, grated
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced

I then threw these in as well. The pasta was done shortly thereafter, so I drained it and added it to the pan, along with:

• 2 cups of diced tomatoes
• 3 Tbs. sliced scallions
• 3 ounces feta
• 1/4 cup lowfat monterrey jack cheese (organic)
• 2 Tbs. grated parmesan
• a slice of leftover silken tofu
• 1 Tbs. dijon mustard
• 1.5 tsp. garlic powder
• black pepper, freshly ground

I would have added fresh basil and maybe nutritional yeast as well but I didn’t have any. This made 3 large servings, at 500 calories each. The calories are a bit too high, considering that I was hungry a few hours later, but the stats are very good. All the vitamins and minerals are green, fat 25%, protein 22%, and fiber 17g. Saturated fat was 9%.

This was a good dish to use up lots of veggies before I went out of town. It was also good with some leftover tempeh balls. The combination was surprisingly tasty.

I’d still love to learn how to make the primavera from my youth, though. If anyone has a recipe or a suggestion, please let me know!

Rating: B