Simplifying Pasta Primavera

April 17, 1999

Hardly  a month does not go by without someone or some publication declaring that they have either "simplified" or "improved" upon something which needed neither simplification nor improvement.   The May & June issue of Cook's Illustrated magazine offers an article claiming to simplify Pasta Primavera, and is a case in point.

This issue of Cook's  Illustrated actually includes a number of Faux Pas, and does so almost immediately.  In the first paragraph, they state " Unlike most dishes, pasta primavera, has a clear pedigree:  it was created at Le Cirque, New York's famed restaurant, in the 1970's.....Sirio Maccioni....created a pasta dish loaded with fresh vegetables....He dubbed it Pasta Primavera" The Artisan's response is: Really, it seems odd that no one in all of Italy had ever thought of cooking Spring vegetables with spaghetti before the 1970's

The Artisan, like the author of this article, searched the literature for this recipe in order to see if it was ever made in Italy and if so, when.  He claimed that those he found were substantially different from "...the original version"   We wondered whose original version he meant.

Unlike the author who claims that he could only find dishes quite dissimilar to the one "created" in New York, we easily found five recipes in our cookbook collection.  Were they the exact same dish as Le Cirque's?  No, but  this is not the issue.  The issue is that Mr. Maccioni did not invent this dish from whole cloth.  He  modified a recipe to suite his and his patron's tastes.  There is indeed a difference, and Cook's Illustrated should know that.  Before getting into that, let's see about   some of these non-existent recipes form the past.

In his book "Bugialli on Pasta", Giuliano Bugialli describes Pasta alle Erbe (Spaghetti with Spring Vegetables) on page 68.  We quote: "Spaghetti with Spring vegetables comes from a Renaissance Florentine cookbook, and it combines many seasonal vegetables: small peas, thin asparagus and spring onions  or scallions, all flavored with the pancetta so popular in Michelangelo's Florence.  This really was a pasta primavera which remains very valid among its modern counterparts......" Thus we see that while not necessarily the same as Le Cirque's version, Pasta  Primavera predated Mr. Maccioni by a mere 450-500 years.  Pasta Primavera is also mentioned in "See Rome and Eat" by Beverly Pepper (1960) and "The Complete Book of Pasta" by Maria Luisa and Jack Denton Scott. (1968), although these recipes use only tomatoes, garlic, parsley and basil as vegetables to sauce spaghetti.

Next the author of the Cook's Illustrated article, Jack Bishop,  goes on to state that Pasta Primavera as prepared by Mr. Maccioni is too much work because of the six pots needed to blanch the vegetables, and preparing those he did find in the literature gave rise to poor imitations.  He stated that some recipes gave rise to sauces tasting like overcooked minestrone; a result of overcooking, and a covered pot.  While that could indeed be the case, would not a reasonable chef simply reduce the cooking time and try it uncovered as well rather than continue on for two pages? 

Mr. Bishop's reluctance to use 6 pots to blanch the vegetables is understandable.  However had he simply looked in "Italian Cooking" published by The California Culinary Academy in 1987, and Edited by Sally W. Smith, he would have found a recipe containing no fewer than 6 vegetables, 4 blanched separately and successively using a single pot and two sautéed in a skillet.   While we might have questioned the use of sauteed yellow and red peppers in a spring dish,  the "too much work" argument seems to disappear with two pot recipe.

Interestingly, the Cook's Illustrated recipe discards the use of artichokes as too much work.  A rather cavalier way to eliminate one of the only true Spring vegetables in the bunch! They settle for a combination of Spring/Summer vegetables: asparagus, peas (frozen), zucchini and green beans.  The cook wanted to eliminate even some of these but  "....my tasters thought that the namee "primavera" connotes a variety of vegetables and not just two of these."  For those who would like to know what "Primavera' really connotes, the Cook's tasters notwithstanding, we refer visitors to Jeffrey Sadowski's little book, "Italian Cuisine - The Gourmet's Companion." in which Primavera is defined thusly: "Spring: refers to dishes prepared with fresh spring vegetables".

One comment in the article worth noting is that  "Despite its name....this dish contains many non-spring vegetables, including broccoli, green beans, and zucchini...Only the peas, snow peas and asparagus are truly Spring vegetables".  With all due respect to the editor of Cooks' Illustrated,  The Artisan suggests that even a cursory knowledge of geography would require that this statement be modified.  For example, at the Farmers market here in California yesterday (4/17/99) there was abundant broccoli and green beans as well as snow and sugar snap peas.  Obviously Spring is different in each region, and Pasta Primavera would consequently differ accordingly.

Finally, The Cook's Illustrated article offered a "Finding the Right Pasta" sidebar.  They concluded that spaghetti   just was not the correct pasta for this dish, and that fettuccine was better.   They then went on to conduct a "test" of four national brands  of fettucine to see which was best.  Dried egg pasta from DeCecco and Delverde were chosen as the best.  Frankly, we think that the editors needed filler to complete the page, and testing pasta was irrelevant and unnecessary.  Additionally, the change from spaghetti, the traditional pasta both in Le Cirque's and older recipes,  seems to have been one for the sake of change rather than to "Simplifying Pasta Primavera." as stated in the title of this article.

Why have we chosen this article as a Faux Pas?  Because it is misleading, arrogant, includes misguided opinion and presents its conclusions as if they came down from the mount along with the ten commandments.   Changing dishes is fine. Recreating them with different or more modern techniques is a way to maintain a dish in the mainstream, but presenting these efforts as unique, and as a response to a paucity of information in the literature when this is untrue does no one any good.   Presenting information that is wrong does a disservice to all.   This is especially the case when the work is presented in both text and drawings.  

A Faux Pas within a Faux Pas is the illustration presenting the technique for peeling plum tomatoes.  It is wrong.   A plum tomato peels much easier if the peeler is inserted under the skin at either end of the tomato, either with or without removing the core, and cutting with a "sawing" motion (moving side to side) as the peeler is moved down the tomato.

The Artisan suggests trying the recipe inprimavera.jpg (8969 bytes) Bugialli's book for an authentic and classical approach to this dish.  Alternatively if you want to try a version similar to Le Cirque's try  the one in "The Joy of Pasta" by Joe Famulario and Louise Imperiale, Barron's Educational Series, Hauppauge, NY, 1983. ISBN# 0-8120-5510-1.  This recipe is given below.  The photo to the right is from the Joy of Pasta.

This preparation lists many ingredients and, on the surface, seems complicated. Actually it is quite simple, if done in 3 steps: prepare and cook the vegetables; prepare a tomato sauce; toast the pine-nuts, cook the pasta, and assemble all the ingredients.  This recipe serves 6.

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 very small zucchini, trimmed and sliced 1/4 inch thick
  • 6 asparagus spears, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths
  • 1 cup sliced green beans, approximately 1 inch long
  • 1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
  • I bunch broccoli, washed, trimmed and cut into 1-inch florets
  • 3/4 cup fresh snow peas, ends removed and cut on bias into 1-inch pieces
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 pound thin pasta (vermicelli, spaghettini, spaghetti)
  • 3 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream, heated
  • 1/2 cup chicken stock, heated
  • l cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 cup toasted pinenuts
  • Tomato Sauce
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup freshly chopped basil, or 1 teaspoon dried
  • 3 cups canned Italian plum tomatoes, including some juice, put through a food mill

 

1. Cook the zucchini, asparagus, beans, peas, broccoli, and snow peas separately. Keep them al dente--do not overcook them as you will cook them again later when you sauté them. Drain each green vegetable and dry in kitchen toweling. Combine all green vegetables in a large bowl and set aside.

2. In a large skillet, or sauce-pan, heat the olive oil and butter and sauté the garlic until it just begins to turn color. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 2 or 3 minutes, then add the parsley and red pepper flakes. Cook another minute. Add all the green vegetables and sauté for about 5 minutes stirring frequently, but gently.

3. Meanwhile, in another large skillet, heat the oil and butter for the tomato sauce and cook the garlic until it just turns color. Add the basil and tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Set aside.

4. Cook the pasta until al dente, drain, and return it to the pot in which it cooked. Add the butter and toss lightly.

5. Add the cream and chicken stock. Toss the pasta some more. Add half the vegetable mixture, then the cheese, and toss again.

6. Transfer all the pasta to a large serving platter, add the remaining vegetables, pour tomato sauce overall, but let some of the green vegetables show through. Dot with toasted pinenuts and serve immediately.

Note: If the pasta is too dry, add a little more chicken stock and cream, but the pasta should not be in a liquidy sauce.

The Artisan Note:Frankly we would leave the pine nuts, heavy cream, mushrooms and dried red pepper flakes out of the above recipe.

Last updated on: 06/03/99 12:51:19 AM