Sacramento’s asparagus and snap peas team up for this spring-season pasta primavera

The Abridged version:

• Zoe Barrie’s latest “Cooking In Season” recipe merges the spring bounty of fresh green vegetables into Sacramento’s own version of pasta primavera.
• Literally “Spring Pasta” in Italian, pasta primavera was popularized half a century ago in New York.
• This is Sacramento — feel free to swap in whatever spring vegetables you prefer.

This is Cooking In Season, a biweekly series from local recipe developer Zoe Barrie using seasonal produce available at Sacramento-area farmers markets. 

Spring is my favorite time of the year to cook, when markets are filled with peak-season vegetables, like sugar snap peas and asparagus. You’ll also find the slightly less fleeting produce, like chard, spinach, and beets, making it a season of real abundance.

During this time, I find myself craving an assortment of vegetables, rather than building a dish around just one. Think a spring-inspired pasta filled with a variety of produce from the market—and as it turns out, this instinct isn’t new.

Pasta primavera (translating to “Spring Pasta” in Italian) is a dish known for celebrating peak-season spring vegetables. It was popularized in the 1970s at New York’s Le Cirque, and ever since, you’ll find it in various forms across the country, with the bones generally the same: pasta, a light cream sauce, parmesan, garlic, and a mix of vegetables. What’s not to love about that?

Pasta Primavera with sugar snap peas and asparagus

Yield: 3 to 4 servings

Total Time: 35 minutes

This pasta primavera is built on a beurre blanc-inspired sauce—shallots are simmered in white wine, then emulsified with cold butter, creating a glossy, rich sauce that feels surprisingly light. While the recipe calls for sugar snap peas and asparagus, feel free to swap in whatever spring vegetables you prefer, such as chard or English peas. For a slight upgrade, opt for fresh store-bought pasta instead of dry. Not only will it cook faster, but it will also deliver a more restaurant-quality result.

Ingredients

Kosher salt

9 ounces fettuccine or spaghetti

4 ounces sugar snap peas, thinly sliced

4 ounces asparagus, ends trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 shallot, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

¾ cup dry white wine

Zest of 1 lemon

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon heavy cream, plus more as needed

4 tablespoons cold salted butter, cut into 4 pats

¼ cup loosely packed fresh basil, thinly sliced

¼ cup loosely packed parsley, finely chopped

¼ cup grated Parmesan, preferably Parmigiano Reggiano

Freshly ground black pepper

1 lemon, cut into 4 wedges

Instructions

Step 1

Bring a large pot of water up to a rolling boil and season generously with salt.

Step 2

Drop the pasta into the boiling water and cook according to package instructions. In the final 2 minutes of cooking, add the sugar snap peas and asparagus, cooking until tender. Drain and set aside.

Step 3

While the pasta cooks, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the shallot and sauté until soft and translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the white wine, lemon zest, and crushed red pepper flakes. Increase the heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the wine has reduced to 2 tablespoons of liquid, about 5 minutes.

Step 4

Reduce the heat to low, then add the heavy cream and ½ teaspoon kosher salt, whisking to combine. Add the butter, one pat at a time, whisking constantly and allowing each to fully melt before adding the next. If the sauce begins to look oily or separated, whisk in an additional tablespoon of cream until smooth and emulsified.

Zoe Barrie is the writer and recipe developer behind Cooking In Season, a biweekly column featuring recipes made from the Sacramento region’s seasonal produce. She runs the popular Substack page Restaurant Dropout and previously worked in Bay Area restaurants after graduating from culinary school.