La Lama Mountain Ovens
Old Italian family recipes
and archives, baking tips, and bakery gifts
Family Secrets
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La Lama Mountain Ovens |
The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended Italian-American family - with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. This is a cookbook-in-process project. If you try any of these recipes please let us know how they turn out, whether or not you had any difficulties, and any clarifying improvements you might recommend to make them foolproof. We will of course acknowledge genuine "test-kitchen" assistance. |
Family Secrets #38Pasta Primavera By CeCe Dove, La Lama Mountain Ovens |
| The past couple of weeks
have been spent doing exactly what my mother did 50 years
ago. The first couple of weeks in June were spent doing
exactly what my father did 50 years ago. In June he
planted his garden and in September she cooked, canned,
froze and generally preserved the foods he grew. My
brother and I share the work and the joy of a large
garden here in the mountains. Working outdoors is
peaceful and rewarding, and even therapeutic. For us it
is a generational tie that reminds us where we came from.
The best gift I received all summer was when our daughter
called from California to tell me she planted her first
garden. I like to think that she saw me do it so often
and got such pleasure from it that it was time for her to
try. Even if she is unaware of it now, it will
unconsciously remind her of her roots every time she
works in it or eats the food she grew. While I could rhapsodize for pages about the joys of gardening, the truth is that at this time of year the farmers' markets and grocery stores are full to overflowing with the harvest. If you don't have the time, space, or inclination to garden it really doesn't matter right now. A wonderful variety of fruits and vegetables are available for you to enjoy. |
| Almost all the regions of Italy have pasta recipes that are meatless and based either on vegetables or herbs for their sauce. Genoa has given us the bright sunshiny pesto made with fresh basil. Apulia has a traditional broccoli and anchovy sauce. Sicily's cuisine is abundant with traditional pasta recipes featuring eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, olives and capers. But nowhere in my research have I come upon the term "primavera", which translates to "springtime". I believe this term may be the invention of a creative and talented American chef. It was in California that I first encountered this dish, and so fell in love with the idea of it that I began my own experimentation. It is a dish that allows your creativity free rein, and so adapts to any season of the year when you can get fresh vegetables. Our daughter grew up with it, and no doubt thinks of it as a "family secret", one which I'm proud that she includes in her repertoire. |  Papa in his garden, summer of 1969, Elwood City, PA. |
| Although the literal
translation is springtime, late summer and early autumn,
with its bountiful assortment of vegetables, is my
favorite time to make this dish. It seems I often have a
handful of three or four kinds of vegetables available,
not enough for a full meal, but enough to combine with
pasta to produce this satisfying dish. You can enrich the
following recipe by adding cream in place of the pasta
water if you want a richer dish, but our preference is
without the cream, which seems to overwhelm the
individual flavors. You may also substitute (or add)
whatever you have on hand, trying to keep the proportions
approximately the same. The choice of pasta shape is up
to you, but a smaller shape such as penne seems to
complement the dish properly. _______________________________________ Pasta Primavera Serves four |
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| Warm the olive oil in
a sauté pan large enough to hold all of the ingredients.
Add the leeks and fennel and sauté 3 or 4 minutes, until
softened slightly. Add garlic and sauté another minute.
Add tomatoes and their juices, and about 1/2 tsp. salt.
Simmer for approximately 10 minutes until slightly
thickened. Do not cook it down too much because the
juices will help steam the remainder of the vegetables.
Add the green beans, cover, and cook four or five
minutes. Add the broccoli, cover and cook another three
minutes. Add the summer squash and an additional 1/2 tsp.
salt, toss well, cover and cook another three or four
minutes, or until all the vegetables are done to your
taste. Chop the basil coarsely and add. Toss well and
cook another minute or two. Add the drained pasta and a
little of the pasta water (or cream if you wish), several
grinds of fresh black pepper, and adjust salt if
necessary. Toss over high heat for a minute to blend
flavors and serve at once, passing the Parmesan at the
table. If you like spicy food, a nice addition is a fresh jalapeno or other hot pepper, finely diced. Add it at the beginning with the fennel and leeks. Altitude Adjustment: None necessary. |
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