Help with pasta prima vera

I've got vegetarian company coming for dinner on Saturday. I plan on making a simple pasta dish based simply on what vegetables look best at the farmer's market that morning. The markets are exploding. I'm sure I'll start by slowing cooking lots of onion and garlic until they're sweet, add vegetables, and throw cheese on at the end. I don't want to use tomatoes, as they overpower the other vegetables.

What would you do? Cream? Wine? Other liquids, other techniques? Roast some of the vegetables?

Jonah

I'd roast my veggies, cut them in bite-size pieces, and hold the whole thing together with a butter/lemon/garlic "sauce" and some parmesan. Mushrooms are always a good thing to have in a pasta primavera.

If you can find some scapes*, I'd sautee lightly in butter and evoo, and puree them hard and add this to your sauce. If the puree comes out a tad stringy, strain it. IF asparagus is still looking good, go for that as one of your in season veggies as well. Fresh basil should be abundant too. I'd go with an aglio/olio type primavera, but that's me. Not that you would skimp, but I'd also suggest a very good parmesan.

*"mmmm...scapes... aghglglglglg" (a la homer)

What's best at the farmer's market these days is peas. Go to the Mick Klug stand at Green City and get yourself a couple of pints of the shelled peas, then walk over to River Valley Ranch's booth and get some shitakes. Then get home and don't waste any time. Fresh peas are so sweet and delicious, but lose robustness rapidly, so you want to cook them right away. Last week, I took my Mick Klug peas home and cooked them for about 12 minutes in light stock. Then I pureed them with some tarragon (purchased at the Smits Farm stand). The pea puree, with some butter, made for a delicious sauce over homemade fettuccine. A few pan roasted shitakes and spring onion (Nichols Farm), and a shave of Wisconsin Stravecchio Parmesan were perfect additions. A truly delightful late spring pasta meal.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. The past dish was well received. I sauteed the onions and garlic, but oven roasted the other vegetables, a step I wouldn't normally do for a simple pasta dish, but to me, it was worth effort. The dish had a sweetness and intensity you can't get any other way.

Jonah