Pasta Primavera Pitchoun

Here is a pasta primavera I created one Christmas Eve when cooking with my vegan son in mind. The remaining diners had Romano cheese and a grater to complete this dish to their taste.

Because I’m a man, I like to prepare as much as possible before hand since I’m hardly able to keep more than a couple of things in mind at any one time as I prepare meals. Nevertheless, you might be able to do the entire preparation, with the possible exception of blanching the string beans, in the few minutes it takes to cook the pasta.

It was by all accounts very tasty or I wouldn’t be sharing the recipe.

Yield

6 servings

Ingredients

  1 handful string beans, fresh
  ½ cup toasted pinenuts
  3 small, ripe tomatoes
  5 cloves minced fresh garlic (or more to taste)
  3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  12 oz angel hair pasta, dry
  fresh ground pepper to taste
  sea salt to taste
  1 large avocado

Preparation

1. Perform the mise en place of all ingredients except the avocado ahead of time. This includes par boiling or steaming the string beans and cutting into ¾" lengths, carefully toasting the pinenuts in a dry sauté pan until they have light brown, cutting the tomatoes into thin wedges (but not so thin that the core detaches, and mincing the garlic. Store the minced garlic in the olive oil in a small bowl.

2. Prepare the pasta no more than 8 minutes if angel hair in water that is initially at a brisk boil with a great deal of salt in it.

3. Removing the pasta from the stove, drain and return to the pan. Pour in the olive oil and garlic. Toss to keep separated. Add the pinenuts and string beans, then the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Halve the avocado and dice each half into ¼" cubes in the shell using the shell to protect your palm from the paring knife. Make half a dozen cuts lengthwise, then turn and make more cuts perpendicularly to these. Turn the avocado out into the pasta using a small spoon.