Skip to content
UltraTruffle
Menu
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Recipes
    • Appetizers
    • Beverages
    • Breakfast
    • Condiments
    • Desserts
    • Dinner
    • Pasta
    • Salad
    • Side Dish
    • Soup
  • Tools & Ingredients
  • Contact Me
Menu
Pasta Primavera

Pasta Primavera with Carrot-Top Pesto

Posted on April 25, 2022April 25, 2022 by Jen

Botticelli in a Bowl…

A Bit of History:

Whenever I hear the word primavera, my mind immediately visualizes a bowl of pasta and Botticelli. Of course, I always think of food first! Primavera, translated from its Italian origins, means spring. In the USA, pasta primavera consists simply of a pasta dish with fresh vegetables. Personally, I love making pasta primavera with carrot-top pesto in the springtime to incorporate beautiful, green vegetables after a long winter.

For any art aficionados out there, Sandro Botticelli painted Primavera, one of the great Renaissance masterpieces circa 1480. While, art historians vary in their interpretations of the painting, most agree on a few things. One area of consensus is Botticelli’s depiction of the progression of the spring season from left to right on the canvas. Due to its immense size, Botticelli had space to paint over 500 different species of spring plants. I always love this fact as I usually want to add about that many different spring vegetables to my pasta primavera with carrot-top pesto!

About the Recipe:

Pasta primavera, like Botticelli’s painting, is open to many different interpretations, making it a wonderfully, versatile dish. One of my favorites way to prepare this classic spring dish, utilizes the whole carrot plant. Whenever I have some carrots with beautiful fresh tops still attached, I make a carrot, mint, pistachio pesto. This simple pesto requires just a few minutes to make in the bender and tastes amazing. Either save the carrots for another use or combine into the pasta dish!

Carrot Top Pesto

Next, choose your favorite spring vegetables to combine with your cooked pasta. This week, I had some fresh green garlic, asparagus, leeks, roasted beets, and rainbow chard. While the pasta cooks, chop the rainbow chard and cook in a shallow pan with garlic, asparagus, and leeks. Toss the cooked pasta or zucchini noodles (or both if you can’t decide!) and combine with a scoop of pesto. Finally, top the dish with roasted beets and spring vegetable medley and dinner is served in less than 20 minutes!

Pasta Primavera

Pasta Primavera with Carrot Top Pesto

Pasta Primavera with Carrot-Top Pesto

A fresh, vibrant, and healthy explosion of spring flavors. Carrot-top pesto with pistachios and mint over a medley of pasta, zucchini, rainbow chard, beets, leeks, and asparagus. A delicious dinner in less than 20 minutes.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 10 mins
Course Main Course, Pasta
Cuisine American, Mediterranean
Servings 3 people

Equipment

  • Blender

Ingredients
  

Carrot Top Pesto

  • 1 lemon juiced and zested
  • 4 cups fresh carrot-top greens
  • 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
  • 2 tbsp pistachios
  • 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled (or 1-2 green garlic stalks)
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 4-6 tbsp water, as needed to thin pesto
  • salt and pepper to taste

Pasta Primavera

  • 1 package dried pasta of choice
  • 2-3 small purple beets, roasted*
  • 1 bunch rainbow chard, chopped**
  • 1 cup leeks, chopped
  • 10-12 spears asparagus, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 zucchini, sprialized or cut into bite sized pieces

Instructions
 

Carrot-Top Pesto

  • Combine all ingredients into a blender. Start with 3 tbsp of water. Blend until smooth.
  • Add additional water if needed to thin and season to personal perference with salt and pepper.

Pasta Primavera

  • Cook pasta according to package directions.
  • In a large sautee pan, cook rainbow chard, asparagus, leeks, garlic, and chopped zucchini (if using spiralized add at the end) and cook for 8 minutes.
  • Add spiralized zucchini and chopped roasted beets to pan after 8 minutes and cook for an additional 2 minutes to warm.

Serving

  • Mix each serving of pasta with 1/4 cup of pesto. Add a scoop of cooked vegetables to top and additional pesto if desired.

Notes

*Beets can be roasted the day before and stored in the refrigerator. To speed up meal preparation, you can use store bought pre-roasted beets.
**Chop the stalks into bite sized pieces. If using the greens as well, chop them and cook with the other vegetables.
Keyword 20 minute easy dinner, 20 minute pasta dinner, easy carrot top pesto, easy pasta primavera with carrot top pesto, oil free carrot pistachio pesto, oil free carrot top pesto, oil free spring pasta, plant based carrot top pesto, plant based pasta primavera, plant based spring pasta, spring pasta vegan, ultratruffle pasta primavera, vegan carrot top pesto, vegan pasta primavera

Looking for some other great pasta ideas? Try these Ultratruffle favorites:

Chanterelles with Easy Tomato Sauce

Spicy Fig Sauce with Fregola Pasta and Spring Veggies

Easy Puttanesca Sauce

Strawberry Mint Basil Cucumber Salad

WANT MORE?

Grab 5 Fan Favorite Recipes in our Free Download when you sign up to receive the latest Ultratruffle recipes and news!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Slow Food, Less Effort, 1 Ingredient at a Time

Are you striving to make a lifestyle change or looking to discover plant-focused recipes the whole family will love?

My name is Jen. I am a wife, mom, and a pharmacist. I love to cook for my family, hike, run, and read about history. I enjoy eating fresh, seasonal, locally available produce. In addition to endurance trail runs and long bike rides, I will happily set out on foraging hikes for mushrooms and truffles.

Waiting for the seasons to change, fruits to ripen, vegetables to mature, or truffles to reach their peak (7-11 years) is an endurance sport in itself.  Nonetheless, the time and effort spent is well worth crossing that finish line and enjoying a delicious, healthy meal.

I always say the slower you run, the more you enjoy the trail. Food is the same. Cooking together in the kitchen with freshly harvested fruits and vegetables is all about taking life slower and enjoying the process and experience. Plant-based, healthy food for the whole family with less effort, so you can slow down and enjoy life!

Disclaimer: This website is for sharing recipes and cooking techniques that I use in my kitchen. It is not intended as medical advice. Ingredient information is for general knowledge only. Please consult your physician for medical questions and concerns regarding your personal health.

All rights reserved. Copyright pending. Recipes/photographs may not be copied and/or re-posted as an original work without express written consent by website owner.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Recent Posts

  • Parsley Horseradish Yogurt Sauce
  • Double Chocolate Goji Berry Cookies
  • Vegan Morel Mushroom Risotto
  • Salt-Crusted Baby Potatoes &…
  • Fig Salad with Creamy Toasted Pecan Dressing

Archives

  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
© 2023 UltraTruffle | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme