It has been several years since I last made this particular pasta dish, so I had to dig out my well thumbed notebook crammed with handwritten recipes to remind myself of the ingredients. 

My eldest son and daughter fondly remember eating this for dinner once a week when they were little with home made chicken or veal schnitzels, while watching on DVD, the Pixar animated film Toy Story. They call this dish, “Toy Story Pasta” and have been asking me to make it once again. I think their youngest brother’s fascination with the “Buzz Lightyear” character prompted their food memory! 

Now I’m not in the habit of feeding children in front of “the box” preferring to have them sitting at the table or kitchen bench eating and engaging together.  However at the time, it allowed me to breastfeed my newborn daughter, while also making sure my four and a half year old and three year old were kept amused while eating a nourishing dinner. 

Pasta Primavera is essentially pasta with vegetables, parmesan and a little cream. It is a quick, tasty and tantrum-free way of encouraging children to eat and enjoy vegetables. It can be served in a bowl as is, or as a side dish to your choice of protein. This is also a perfectly acceptable meal for adults, especially if you must whip up a meal in record time. 

This evening I served this pasta with chicken schnitzels from Locantro Fine Foods and a platter of dense, flavoursome Ox Heart tomatoes drizzled with vino cotto and crisp cucumber batons. The older children chattered about the Toy Story movie and its memorable characters with their younger siblings as they all munched happily through dinner – seated at the kitchen bench with the television turned off. 

Pasta Primavera to serve 7 – 8 people as a side dish or 4 – 5 people as a main

Ingredients
500 g dried pasta such as farfalle, penne or fusilli
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic crushed
1 large carrot diced into 2cm pieces
1 bunch of broccolini or broccoli cut into small florets
200 grams of stringless green beans cut into 2 cm pieces
100 grams grated parmesan
200 ml pouring cream
250 grams ricotta cheese
half a teaspoon dried Italian herbs. 
salt and pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and add the pasta to cook for the time specified on the box. This evening I used fusilli which cooks in 11 minutes. 

While the pasta is cooking, prepare the vegetable sauce. Heat the olive oil in a large fry pan over a medium heat and add the garlic and carrots and sauté for about 3 minutes. 

Add the greens and a few tablespoons of pasta water, along with herbs, salt and pepper. Cover with a lid stirring occasionally and adding more pasta water if needed for about 7 minutes. Add the cream to warm through. Remove from the heat. 

By this time the pasta should be ready. Drain in a colander and scoop into a serving bowl. 

Pour the vegetable sauce over the pasta and toss through the ricotta and parmesan cheeses. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. 

Best eaten warm with extra parmesan sprinkled on top.