This Meatless Monday recipe features a creamy, vegan Pasta Primavera. Pasta Primavera is defined as a dish that contains pasta and fresh vegetables – with the main focus being on the vegetables. It is usually highlighted by light flavors, aromatic herbs and bright colors – (“primavera” meaning “spring”).
When I went to my local grocery store, the produce manager saw me looking at mushrooms and asked me to wait a moment. He then brought out a carton of the freshest, most pristine white button mushrooms I had ever seen. Sold! Freshly steamed asparagus, corn straight from the cob, spring peas and my favorite in-season, sweet Vidalia onions round out the vegetables. For the pasta, I chose Farfalle (also known as “bow-tie” pasta). I like a more substantial pasta for this particular dish.
I steamed the asparagus while working on sauteeing the onions, mushrooms, peas and corn in a vegetable broth. I really love Imagine brand because they not only offer a low-sodium version, but it has a deep, rich flavor and color.
To create the light cream sauce, I used about a half a cup of canned coconut milk, a tablespoon of lemon juice and a vegan parmesan. Now, if you don’t want to use the commercially available vegan parm (or can’t find it), another great and tasty option are grated walnuts. You can take it one step further and mix the walnuts with nutritional yeast, a pinch of salt and perhaps, garlic powder.
Combine everything in the pan, taste for seasoning and garnish with fresh parsley, a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of vegan parmesan. What you end up with is this amazing, light and yet extremely flavorful Pasta Primavera. I hope you enjoy!
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Meatless Monday: Pasta Primavera {Vegan}
Ingredients
- 1 Tbl Oil for sauteeing
- 1 medium Vidalia or yellow Onion sliced thinly
- 1 Clove Garlic optional, minced
- 16 oz . Mushrooms any variety, or 1" pieces, cut into quarters
- 1 bunch of Asparagus steamed and cut into 1" pieces
- 1/4-1/2 C Low-Sodium Vegetable Broth
- 1/4 C Fresh Corn
- 1/2 C Peas
- 1/2 Lb Pasta such as Farfalle
- 1/2 C Coconut Milk canned
- 1 Tbl Lemon Juice
- 1/4 C Vegan Parmesan
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- Parsley Parmesan and/or Lemon Zest for garnish
Instructions
- Prepare pasta to package instructions and drain (do not rinse).
- Meanwhile, steam the asparagus spears until tender. Cut into 1" pieces.
- In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, add the oil and onion slices. Saute for about 3-5 minutes before adding the mushrooms.
- Saute the mushrooms for an additional 5 minutes and if using garlic, add now. Saute for 30 seconds and then add the vegetable broth.
- Allow to reduce slightly. Add the corn and peas.
- When the broth has reduced and the vegetables have cooked through, add the drained pasta (a little residual pasta water will actually help thicken the sauce) and asparagus pieces.
- Add the coconut milk, lemon juice and vegan parmesan stirring to combine. If necessary, add a splash more vegetable broth. The pasta will continue to absorb the liquids as it sits.
- Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- To serve, divide between four bowls and top with additional vegan parmesan.
- Garnish with parsley and/or lemon zest.
Natalie says
looks so delicious! A nice cool summer meal!
Karen C says
Hi, I’ve been a strict vegan for about 2 years. I signed up for your recipes awhile ago but have not tried any yet. While some have looked delicious, I can’t find a serving size or nutritional information, calories etc… Do you provide that info? Thank you
aimee says
Hi Karen, since switching recipe plugins, you’ll generally find the serving sizes somewhere in the text portion of the blog post and/or the actual recipe itself. I do provide nutritional information on some recipes … but not all. This is especially true if it’s something I am making specifically because it packs a lot of protein. Not every recipe is low in calorie, but every recipe is always strictly vegan. If you’re ever interested in figuring out the nutrition on one I haven’t provided, you can copy & paste the ingredient list to Calorie Count here >>> http://www.caloriecount.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php In the meantime, I do hope you will attempt a recipe from the site and I will try to do more nutritional analysis as I add future recipes. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Catherine says
Dear Aimee, what a fabulous pasta dish. Perfect for week nights and hot summer days. xo, Catherine
Anon says
I made this today. My first try at a pasta primavera recipe. I felt it could use just a little bit more corn, but otherwise left the recipe the same. It was fantastic. I don’t know about “spring”; to me this is a nice hot meal to have in the middle of winter.
I topped the dish with cashew parmesan, a recipe I pulled from Minimalist Baker’s site.
aimee says
I am glad you enjoyed it! I am working on a few different vegan “parmesan” recipes – so stay tuned! 🙂