Pasta Primavera a la Blaise

Another flexible recipe for my loyal viewers. I grilled carrots, fennel and green beans and then tossed them with penne pasta, cubed sharp provolone, 3/4 cup olive oil, salt, pepper and whole basil leaves. As you will see in the video, I was a little disappointed. I make suggestions for improvements in video, but I will add some more here.



First, use plenty of vegetables, almost rendering the pasta to a supporting role in the dish. Make sure you get the veggies nice and grilled. I grilled mine just fine, I just wanted to reinforce that. Make sure you use plenty of salt in pasta water and also sprinkled over veggies prior to grilling. Adding garlic raw or sauteed, as I say in the video, will help it. Just avoid overdoing it. The last time I made this dish I think I used 2# of green beans and 3 # of carrots. This time I used less and for that I am going to send myself to my room with no supper! That's a nod to a great UK movie review whose podcast is available at the following address: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/fivelive/kermode/rss.xml



Anyway, I digress. As you all know, I love making meals with whatever I can find in my fridge and this pasta primavera is perfect for that approach. You just need quantity and selection. I think I had enough variation in ingredients, just not enough of them. Just be careful, though. Don't use mushy veggies like eggplant or tomatoes. Though they add lots of flavor, once grilled they will fall apart when tossed with the pasta. This will create a sort of sauce that will change the whole idea of this dish from light and refreshing to heavy and de-freshing???