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Spaghetti Primavera
Here's a confession: For about a year, I hated my own book, "Arthur Schwartz's New York City Food: An opinionated history with legendary recipes." I could only see what was missing, not what was there. The book had been trimmed so much that, I thought, it was quite incomplete.
Then it was nominated for several awards and won two big ones - the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) best book on an American subject and the IACP's cookbook of the year - best of the best. I got over feeling bad about the book. (By the way, it is now in a paperback edition.)
Now, four years later, I went to the book the other day to look at the story about and the recipe for Spaghetti Primavera, primavera being the Italian word for spring. It is emphatically spring right now. The cherry blossoms in Brooklyn are in full bloom and the azaleas are popping, too. When the sun comes out again, the crab apple tree outside my kitchen will be in full flower. There's rhubarb in the farmers' market. I figure it's time to haul out that plum of a recipe, a dish that is now ubiquitous in American restaurants but was created in our lifetime (well, my adult lifetime) right here in New York City, not in Italy, as the name would lead you to believe. Need I say the story and recipe were not there? It was one of those stories, one of those recipes, that was edited out of the book, only because of space considerations. Fortunately, all I had to do was cut and paste it from one computer file to another so I can share it with you now.
Spaghetti Primavera has pretty much come to mean any kind of and any combination of pasta with vegetables, although, naturally, at least some of those should be spring vegetables. The original recipe calls for both peas and asparagus. It is served with cream sauce, tomato sauce, or no sauce, everywhere from top-flight restaurants to roadside stops coast to coast and in some foreign countries, except in Italy, where no one has ever heard of it. Even for the real thing, as created at the original Le Cirque, there are different recipes floating around, some of which are attributed to Sirio Maccioni, the Tuscan-born owner of Le Cirque, some to chefs who have worked at Le Cirque. There are different stories attached to its creation, too. Even Sirio has told more than one version, although he has lately settled on the following.
It was 1974 and Sirio was in Canada with Craig Claiborne (the late, great New York Times food editor), Pierre Franey (Craig's buddy, a classically trained French chef and eventual Times columnist and TV personality), and he doesn't remember who else. They were hungry. Sirio's idea was to make Fettuccine Alfredo, "which was very popular at the time," says the ring master of Le Cirque. "There were some frozen vegetables, but I was just going to use peas. Then some other people joined us and Craig and I decided to put all the vegetables in."
This story, not incidentally, follows exactly an urban legend model repeated over and over again, but, as they say, truth can be stranger than fiction.
Another story, however, is told by Le Cirque's first executive chef, Jean Vergnes, in his cookbook, "A Seasoned Chef" (Donald I. Fine, 1987).
"Le Cirque's Pasta Primavera recipe was a result of the combined efforts of my chef, Jean Louis Todeschini, Sirio Maccioni and me.
"The idea for the dish came to me while at a dinner party at my friend's house, Ed Giobbi. Ed is not only a fine painter but had also prepared a dish of linguini, olive oil and garlic with fresh asparagus and other fresh vegetables from his garden. Immediately my mind started turning. I was always thinking about new recipes to add to the menu, and the idea of fresh vegetables served with pasta intrigued me.
"The following day I discussed the concept with Jean Louis. I told him that I wanted to use some fresh asparagus, string beans, zucchini and mushrooms. Jean Louise suggested adding pea pods and using a bit of cream and butter to make it more French. Still, it was looking a bit too green; it needed more color. I decided to add some tomatoes. We then tried a variety of different things, experimenting to find the right amount of each vegetable... On the side we would sautéd some fresh tomatoes. At Sirio's suggestion we added pignoli nuts and basil. I suggested using grated Swiss cheese instead of Parmesan, but both Sirio and Jean Louis preferred Parmesan, so Parmesan it was.
"The recipe was an immediate success. At about the time we began serving the Pasta Primavera, Pierre Franey and Mimi Sheraton happened to be at Le Cirque for lunch. Both tried the dish and loved it. A few days later Craig Claiborne sampled it and was moved to write about it in the New York Times Magazine. House & Garden magazine asked Sirio and me to reproduce the recipe in their studio for yet another article. With all this publicity, the Primavera came to be requested more and more, as a main course as well as an appetizer. Ironically, the dish was never listed in the menu. Since it required an awful lot of preparation, we did not over-publicize it; the dish itself generated its own demand."
Sirio counters this story by pointing out that the final preparation of the dish was always done on a cart in the dining room, not in the kitchen. "Jean Vergnes was a French chef. He didn't want pasta in his kitchen. He made us cook it in the dining room," says Maccioni.
Like many restaurateurs and their chefs, Sirio and Jean Vergnes, argued a lot. Their realities were very different, as you can see. But, says Sirio, "I still love him."
You will find many recipes for Spaghetti (or Pasta) Primavera on the internet, including ones that try to reduce the fat by steaming the vegetables and using fat-free yogurt instead of cream. I'll take a tiny portion of this instead.
LE CIRQUE'S ORIGINAL SPAGHETTI PRIMAVERA
Serves 4 as a first course
To make a show of this, as they are known to do at Le Cirque, where the dish used to be assembled tableside, you must have all the elements cooked ahead of time and arranged in their separate bowls or pans, ready to be tossed together and heated through. Naturally, use an attractive skillet or shallow casserole (a gratin pan is good) to bring to the table and put on a portable burner for the final flourishes. Even when finished in the kitchen, it's a good company pasta dish because it is elegant and the prep, except for boiling the pasta, can be completed several hours in advance.
1/2 cup freshly shelled peas (about 1 pound in the pod)
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons mascarpone cheese or more heavy cream
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 cup white mushrooms, caps only, sliced 1/8 inch thick
1 cup zucchini, split lengthwise then sliced 1/8 inch thick
1 cup very small broccoli florets
12 pencil-thin asparagus, green part only, cut in 1-inch segments
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon garlic, peeled and finely chopped
10 to 12 leaves basil, chopped or shredded
1 cup canned, peeled plum tomatoes in 1/2-inch dice
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound spaghetti
2 tablespoons chopped chives
Bring a small pot of water to a rolling boil over high heat. Add a teaspoon of salt. Add the peas and boil for 3 minutes. Drain in a strainer. Run under cold water. Set aside.
In a small pot over low heat, combine the heavy cream, mascarpone, butter, Parmigiano-Reggiano, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Stir well and let the sauce bubble gently until it thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
In an 8 to 10-inch skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the pine nuts, toss them in the oil, and toast until very light brown. Be careful not to burn them.
Add the sliced mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli, and asparagus and toss for 5 to 7 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
Bring 3 quarts of water to a rolling boil and add a heaping tablespoon of salt.
While the water is coming to a boil, in a small skillet, heat 2 more tablespoons of olive. Add the garlic and basil and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes. Do not let the garlic brown. Add the diced tomatoes, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and a few grinding of black pepper. Stir, then cook gently for 3 to 4 minutes.
Put the spaghetti into the boiling water. Stir and cook at a full boil until slightly underdone. Drain in a colander, then return the spaghetti to the pot it cooked in or to the pan you will be tossing it in at table. Place over low heat.
Add all of the cheese sauce, all of the chives, and half the peas, half the sautéed vegetables, and half the tomato sauce. Toss well for 2 minutes over low heat. Add a little more Parmesan if the sauce needs thickening (or more to taste), or a few tablespoons of hot water if the mixture gets too thick. There should not a lot of sauce, just a coating.
To present the dish, pour the dressed spaghetti into a warm serving bowl, or divide it between individual pasta bowls. Top with the remaining peas, sautéed vegetables, and tomato sauce. Garnish with basil leaves. Serve with more grated Parmigiano-Reggiano on the side.
