I know we all have busy lives and there are never enough hours in the day, so I’ve added a little recording of this post for you to listen to on-the-go, or while you’re doing something else, or just to listen to whenever, in case that’s helpful or just the kind of thing you like to do (I love listening to things while I do other nice things, like eat my breakfast or go for a walk, or have a hot bath). You can just click on the little play button above here, to listen anytime.
If reading is more your thing, then I’ve also written everything out below, in full, so that you can read away at your leisure and refer back to the recipe and notes whenever you like.
I call this pasta primavera (lit. trans. ‘Springtime pasta’). I call it that, mostly because the name sounds nice: pri-ma-ve-ra has a very pleasing, almost operatic ring to it. But truthfully (and between you and I) I don’t think that’s its real name: in fact, I just did a quick google search and found that pasta primavera is something quite different, involving tomato and carrot and a bit of courgette. It looks quite nice, actually: though probably not as nice as this. I thought the epithet ‘primavera’ would be a good one, only because I described this as pasta-with-lettuce (which is basically what it is) to a friend recently, and she wrinkled up her nose at me. So I’ve tried to come up with something more romantic, appetising if you will, to call the dish, a name that better reflects its excellent character. Because in truth, this pasta deserves it: it’s really very good.
The reference to Spring isn’t totally random: it’s Spring right now; and I’m eating a lot of this pasta, right now. So, that’s one reason. But if you take a peek at the ingredients list, you’ll see that all the spring goodies are in there too: peas (frozen, but better still if you can find sugar sweet and fresh, which round about this time of year you should be able to); buttery, frilly lettuce, which I know you can buy from supermarkets year round, but really is at peak right now. If you wanted to make it ‘more Spring’, you could toss in a few broad beans (why not?), a few quartered baby artichokes. All good, Spring-like things. Pasta Pri-ma-ve-ra.
Now, another thing I need you to bear with me on, to do a little suspending of disbelief: the cooked lettuce bit. I know it seems counterintuitive to simmer down something we so naturally associate with freshness and crispness; I know it feels odd to basically cook salad. But trust me when I say that it really works: the taste of the leaves intensifies with a little cooking, and what you end up with is a delicately flavoured sauce somewhere in the family of a Roman vignarola, that you then toss with the pasta and, in my case, a dollop of soured cream (the soured cream is optional, but I must say that I do like it).
As with all recipes, you should play around with this one, and make it your own: you could add broad beans or artichokes, as mentioned above, or even a few spears of asparagus, chopped into short lengths - why not? You can leave out the soured cream completely, if soured cream isn’t your thing; or swap it out, if you prefer, for cream-cream, mascarpone, ricotta, or a dollop of cottage cheese (I know it sounds odd, but I’ve tried it and I promise you it’s good). You might also want to add a nice zesting of lemon: the dish doesn’t strictly need it, but lemon and fresh spring greens and pasta is a particularly sublime combination, a burst of sunshine and lightness and flavour, so if you do have a lemon kicking around the kitchen, then you really should go ahead and zest it.
My husband and I have spent a fair amount of time deliberating which kind of lettuce works best here, and the firm conclusion is baby gem: the main reason being that baby gem offers a good ratio of crunchy ‘spine’ to frilly ‘leaf’, which means it still holds a nice texture as it cooks down; also the leaves are already small so they don’t need to be chopped up, they can just be chucked in whole and as is. Which is nice. Equally, I’ve made this with both iceberg and butterhead lettuce and both are good: I just shortened the cooking time a little, as the floppier, larger leaves seem to wilt quicker.
Like most good pastas this is quick and a simple recipe to prepare; so you can have supper on the table in no time. And a good supper at that. Please do give it a try, give cooked lettuce a chance, and see what you think; and please do let me know if you come up with a better sounding name. For now, we’ll have to make do with pasta primavera.
Pasta Primavera
Serves 4
340g Fusilli
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
40g frozen peas
1/2 vegetable stock cube
200g (roughly) lettuce (preferably baby gem), leaves broken off
2 heaped tbsp soured cream (or mascarpone)
Salt flakes
Freshly ground pepper
Bring a large pan of generously salted water to the boil. When the water begins to gallop, add the pasta and cook al dente as per the instructions on the packet. Bear in mind that the instructions always tell you to cook the pasta longer than you need to; AND that pasta always tastes better more al dente rather than less.
Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat, add the chopped onion and a generous pinch of salt and fry gently, until soft and translucent, 3-5 minutes. Now, crumble the stock cube over the onion; add the frozen peas and two ladlefuls (roughly) of the pasta cooking water, just enough to cook the peas. Let everything simmer away: you want the water to evaporate before you add the greens to the pasta.
A couple of minutes before the pasta is ready (this isn’t an exact science and the timings don’t need to be super precise), add the lettuce leaves to the pan with the peas and onion. Cover the pan and cook gently for 1-2 minutes, until the leaves have just wilted: you want the lettuce softened at its frilly edges but still holding its shape, not sludgy.
Drain the pasta, toss together in the pan with the greens, and add a generous dollop of soured cream or mascarpone, or whatever you’re using. Mix vigorously and season to taste with salt and pepper, before serving while still piping hot.
I’m with you, Skye. I love cooked lettuce, and I’m sure I’ll love this too. Thank you!
The audio! So pleasant to listen to and what a treasure for your children to have these audio food diaries with your voice. 💜