This Meatless Monday recipe features a creamy, vegan Pasta Primavera. Pasta Primavera is defined as a dish that contains pasta and fresh vegetables – with the main focus being on the vegetables. It is usually highlighted by light flavors, aromatic herbs and bright colors – (“primavera” meaning “spring”).

When I went to my local grocery store, the produce manager saw me looking at mushrooms and asked me to wait a moment. He then brought out a carton of the freshest, most pristine white button mushrooms I had ever seen. Sold! Freshly steamed asparagus, corn straight from the cob, spring peas and my favorite in-season, sweet Vidalia onions round out the vegetables. For the pasta, I chose Farfalle (also known as “bow-tie” pasta). I like a more substantial pasta for this particular dish.

I steamed the asparagus while working on sauteeing the onions, mushrooms, peas and corn in a vegetable broth. I really love Imagine brand because they not only offer a low-sodium version, but it has a deep, rich flavor and color.

To create the light cream sauce, I used about a half a cup of canned coconut milk, a tablespoon of lemon juice and a vegan parmesan. Now, if you don’t want to use the commercially available vegan parm (or can’t find it), another great and tasty option are grated walnuts. You can take it one step further and mix the walnuts with nutritional yeast, a pinch of salt and perhaps, garlic powder.

Combine everything in the pan, taste for seasoning and garnish with fresh parsley, a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of vegan parmesan. What you end up with is this amazing, light and yet extremely flavorful Pasta Primavera. I hope you enjoy!

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