15 minute creamy pasta primavera

I love my super quick dinners, and it looks like you guys do too – my 15 minute mushroom stroganoff is still one of my most-viewed recipes ever, despite the somewhat questionable photos. I also love one-pot dinners (insert usual trope about only needing to wash up one pan). So, this time I thought I’d combine the two, to create my 15 minute creamy pasta primavera!

Sauce, veggies and pasta, all cooked in one pan, in just 15 minutes. Bingo.

The veg I chose might all look quite similar (at first glance it’s not easy to tell whether you’re looking at a piece of asparagus, a green bean, or a broccoli stalk), but when they’ve only got a mild and creamy sauce to compete with, the flavours really shine through. Who knew that broccoli and asparagus tasted so different! The subtle flavours are usually lost in the midst of a million other ingredients, but here they’re the star of the show.

All I did was throw the veg into the pan with the pasta for the last couple of minutes of cooking time. You only want them to be cooked al dente, so they literally only need about 3 minutes in the pan. Then just drain everything off, and add your sauce.

The sauce is a really simple mixture of cream cheese, and a bit of milk to thin it out. That’s it. Oh, and some salt and pepper. I also sprinkled in a bit of grated mozzarella to get everything nice and gooey.

If you don’t know, ‘primavera’ means ‘spring’ in Italian, and it usually refers to dishes that are full of spring veggies – lots of vibrant colours and crunch. The exact selection of veg doesn’t really matter, so feel free to change up the recipe depending on what you have in the fridge (it’s a great fridge clearer).

It can easily be adapted to use summer veg too, so don’t feel that you can only make this dish for a couple of months each year. In fact I know I’ll be making it very often! When the sun’s shining, there’s nothing better than a light pasta dish that’s jam-packed with al dente veggies. The flavours are just as fresh and vibrant as any salad you’ve ever eaten, but this pasta primavera is much more satisfying!

If you have some other great summer food ideas, you could be in with a shot of winning some lovely foodie experiences from Waitrose as part of their #TasteOfSummer campaign. So if you like the sound of attending a barbecue event with Heston Blumenthal at one of his pubs in Bray, heading down to a cocktail and canapés course at the Waitrose Cookery School in London, or throwing a summer party catered by the Waitrose Entertaining team, make sure you share your recipes and ideas on Twitter using the #TasteOfSummer hashtag and tagging @Waitrose.

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5 from 1 vote

15 minute creamy pasta primavera

Prep Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 200 g pasta
• 75 g asparagus ~6 spears
• 50 g green beans ~1/2 cup
• 100 g tenderstem broccoli ~6 spears
• 2 tbsp cream cheese heaped
• 2 tbsp milk
• 75 g grated mozzarella cheese ~2/3 cup
• 1 large tomato chopped
• Salt
• Black pepper

Instructions

• Add the pasta to a large pan of boiling water, and cook for around 10 minutes, until almost cooked. Meanwhile, snap the ends off the asparagus, and top and tail the green beans. When the pasta is almost ready, add the asparagus, green beans and broccoli to the pan for the final few minutes of cooking time (you still want them to keep a bit of crunch).
• When the pasta is cooked, drain the pan, and turn the heat down very low. Add the remaining ingredients, and cook, stirring, over the low heat for another couple of minutes until the cheeses have melted. Serve warm.

Course: Main meal

Author: Becca Heyes

Love a primavera? Try my vegan risotto primavera too: