Pasta w/ Simple Cream Sauce and Sautéed Vegetables
Ingredients
12-16 oz. Pasta of choice
Cream Sauce
2 Cups/1 Pint Heavy Cream
3/4 Cup Grated Parmesan
Salt, to taste (Recommend a seasoned salt such as Truffle Salt, Smoked Chili Salt, or even Lawry’s)
Sautéed Vegetables
2-3 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 lb. Vegetable(s) of Choice
3-4 Garlic Cloves, minced
Salt & Pepper, to taste
2/3 Cup Frozen Corn (optional)
Steps
Sautéed Vegetables:
1. Wash and chop vegetables of your choice. For this recipe, I recommend Broccoli (pictured above) or Broccolini, Carrot, Onions, or Peppers, or some combination of these.
2. Heat a skillet with high sides over medium-high heat, add olive oil and swirl around to fully coat the pan.
3. Look for the olive oil to appear almost glitter-y in the pan, when it is in this state, it is heated to the right temperature to add your vegetables.
4. Add vegetables to the pan and stir/toss with a spatula to coat with the oil from the pan. Once coated, add salt pinches at a time, (1 to 2 should suffice), and a few grinds of black pepper. Continue to stir.
5. Keep stirring vegetables semi-frequently, ensuring they do not burn, until they have softened. (You can feel this softness with the spatula or you can use a fork which should pierce the vegetables with ease.)
6. Once vegetables are soft, add garlic to the pan and allow to cook briefly until lightly-browned and fragrant. Then stir together/toss with the rest of the vegetables.
7. Once the garlic is evenly distributed, remove from heat and transfer to a bowl for later. (Put pan back on the stovetop for later.)
8. OPTIONAL: If you’d like to add corn to this dish, simply cook frozen corn according to the directions on the package, (I just microwave them). Set aside.
Pasta, Cream Sauce & Assembly:
1. In a pot over high heat, boil enough water for your pasta of choice, according to box/package directions. (Keep pot covered in order to boil faster.)
2. Once water has reached a rolling boil, add a generous amount of salt and stir into the water. Make sure this water is SALTY.
3. Add pasta to the water and cook al dente according to box/package instructions, (times will vary), stirring the pasta every couple of minutes.
4. When the pasta has a few minutes left in the pot, heat the skillet from earlier over medium to medium-high heat and add heavy cream, stirring occasionally to make sure a film doesn’t develop on the top layer.
5. Once the cream has reached a simmer and you see bubbles forming around the edges of the pan, turn the heat to low and add the grated parmesan and immediately whisk into the cream. Continuously whisk until fully combined and mixture starts to thicken. Add a dash of salt and continue to whisk.
6. Before draining the pasta, reserve about a cup of the pasta water from the pot in a glass measuring cup, (you won’t need this much, but it’s nice to have).
7. Drain the pasta.
8. Add the sautéed vegetables and, (if using), corn to the cream sauce and toss together to evenly coat. Turn off the heat but keep the skillet over the same burner on the stove.
9. Add the pasta to the skillet with the cream sauce and vegetables and toss together to, again, evenly distribute. Add a small pour of pasta water to the skillet and continue to stir, (this helps the sauce bind to the pasta so it doesn’t all fall to the bottom of the bowl when you serve it).
10. Transfer the pasta to a large serving bowl or move the skillet to an unused part of the stove before serving the pasta into individual bowls.
11. Top with extra parmesan or a few grinds of black pepper.
12. Enjoy!