Spring Vegetable Pasta

Ingredients

Serves 6

•     10 oz of Short Cut Pasta such as penne, bow ties
•     2 Zucchini, diced
•     1 Yellow Squash, diced
•     4oz of Asparagus, trimmed and diced
•     4oz of Button Mushrooms, quartered
•     2 cups of Broccoli Florets
•     1 Red or Orange Bell Pepper, diced
•     2 cups of Halved Cherry Tomatoes
•     4 Cloves of Garlic
•     2 Tbsp of Olive Oil
•     2 Tbsp of Unsalted Butter
•     3 cups of Baby Spinach
•     Fresh Chopped Basil
•     ½ cup of Freshly Grated Parmiggiano
•     Salt and Pepper, to taste

Preparation

1) Fill a large pot with water, add a generous sprinkle of salt and bring to a boil.

    2) In a large skillet over medium high heat, add the olive oil and allow it to get nice and hot.

    3) Add the bell peppers and mushrooms and saute for about 4 to 5 minutes or until they soften and develop some color. Add the garlic, broccoli florets, yellow squash, zucchini asparagus and thyme leaves. Season with salt and pepper to taste and saute the veggies for about 10 minutes or until they develop some color and cook down a bit.

    4) While the veggies are about half way cooked through, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook according to package instructions. Reserve about 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water.

    5) Add the cherry tomatoes and cook them for about 2 minutes, add the starchy water, spinach and butter and cook them long enough to melt the butter and thicken the sauce a bit.

    6) Drain the pasta and place it back in the hot pot, add the basil and parmiggiano and stir everything together well to coat the pasta with the sauce.

    7) Serve right away!