Almost Italian

It is well-documented that Tuscan Sirio Maccione, owner of Le Cirque, invented Pasta Primavera in 1978. Entertaining a clutch of food writers, chefs, and other gourmets at his Upper East Side establishment, then considered one of New York’s prime “frog ponds” (high-end French restaurants), Signor Maccione devised a spur-of-the-moment dish of pasta. The story goes that a meeting turned into lunch and the maestro went into his kitchen, foraged among the prep stations, and created a new dish.

“What do you call this?” asked one of the happy diners.

Since he had used asparagus, baby peas, and tiny green beans, the restaurateur replied, “Pasta Primavera,” referring to the spring vegetables. Signor Maccione’s caprice was an instant hit.

Like many skilled, spontaneous cooks, the creator gave his dish no further thought. However, one of the guests happened to have been Craig Claiborne—then food editor for The New York Times—who promptly wrote an article about this “spectacular” new “northern Italian” preparation.

Within a week, hip and well-heeled New Yorkers were clamoring for Pasta Primavera. However, that spontaneous creation wasn’t on the menu—not yet anyway. Hurried meetings and tastings were convened. Soon, Le Cirque’s chefs had a replicable version of that first Pasta Primavera. In the meantime, the restaurant’s clientele learned to order it “off the menu.” Pasta Primavera attained star status on the cover of the premier edition of Food & Wine Magazine in 1978.

In the final quarter of the 20th century, greater numbers of American tourists traveling to Europe—especially to Italy—gained an awareness of northern Italian food. The perception that the subtle northern sauces made with butter and cream were “lighter” made them fashionable and gave them a marketing edge over the familiar Italian-American red sauces. (In fact, many “white” northern sauces are considerably more caloric than southern tomato sauces).

The inclusion of so many different vegetables in a pasta preparation is a dead giveaway that this dish was invented here. Chinese-American restaurateurs learned to make economical use of seven or eight colorful vegetables in the same chicken stir-fry, while back-home, Chinese dishes tended to highlight a single vegetable. The same restraint is characteristic of traditional Italian combinations of pasta with verdure, vegetables. Pasta with broccoli, pasta with asparagus or baby peas, but never with so many varied primizie, the earliest and often most costly baby vegetables. That such a number of fresh ingredients would be joined by yet more costly mushrooms, pine nuts, olive oil, cream, butter…and cheese(!) would be comically bewildering to any Italian. Nonetheless, this dish is a glorious expression of excess.

Signor Maccione may be a native of Montecatini in Tuscany, but Pasta Primavera could only have happened here. Whether you call this Almost Italian… Almost Northern Italian… North American Northern Italian… or just “Delicious!”—here is a meal that celebrates spring!

Ingredients:

1 Oz. Dried porcini
1 Cup warm water
½ Lbs. asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
¼ Lbs. green beans cut into 1-in. pieces
¾ Cup frozen baby peas, thawed
2 Cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
½ tsp. Crushed red pepper flakes
4 Tbs. Extra-virgin olive oil
1 Lbs. Spaghetti or Linguine
4 Tbs. Unsalted butter
2/3 Cup heavy cream
1 tsp. Finely grated fresh lemon zest
1 Cup freshly grated Parmigiano
¼ Cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
¼ Cup finely chopped fresh basil
1/3 Cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
Additional Parmigiano

Preparation:

Soak the porcini in warm water in a small bowl for 30 minutes. Remove from the water, squeezing the excess liquid back into the bowl. Pour the soaking liquid through a sieve lined with a dampened paper towel into a small bowl and reserve. Rinse the porcini to remove any grit, then squeeze dry, and chop coarsely.

Cook the asparagus and beans in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water for 3 minutes. Add the peas and cook until the beans and asparagus are just tender, about 1 – 2 minutes more. Transfer the vegetables to a bowl of ice and cold water to halt their cooking. Reserve the water in the pot for cooking the pasta. Drain the cooled vegetables in a colander.

Heat a large sauté pan over medium-low heat and add the olive oil. Add the minced garlic, and the pepperoncino, and sauté for about 1 minute, until the garlic becomes fragrant. Add the drained vegetables, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes, then transfer to a bowl.

Return the water in the pot to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente. Drain the pasta in a colander. Add the butter, cream, lemon zest, and porcini to the now-empty, but still warm pasta pot and simmer for 2 minutes. Stir in the cheese and add the pasta, tossing to coat and adding as much of reserved porcini soaking liquid as necessary (1/2 to 2/3 cup) to keep the pasta well coated. Add the green vegetables, parsley, basil, and pine nuts. Taste for seasoning, add salt and pepper as necessary, and toss to combine.

To Serve:

Divide the pasta among six warmed plates and garnish with Parmigiano shavings.

Serves six