Creamy Pasta with Summer Vegetables is a simple seasonal recipe using fresh peas, beans, and herbs from my garden. If you don’t grow your own vegetables you can still make this recipe. All of these vegetables are available to buy from a market or supermarket.
Cooking with pasta is one of the quickest ways to get a tasty dinner on the table in a very short time. Creamy Pasta with Summer Vegetables tastes so fresh and delicious, it’s like a bowlful of summer.
Summer Vegetables
The photograph above shows the summer vegetables and herbs that I picked from my garden. to use in this recipe.
- Sugarsnap peas
- Spring Onions
- Broad Beans
- Spinach
- Rosemary
- Thyme
- Fennel
- Marjoram
Growing Sugarsnap Peas
Sugarsnap Peas are my favourite vegetable to grow. They are so easy, you just pop the peas into the ground. You need to provide some support, either a tripod or canes and string or wire for them to grow up. Then keep them watered and soon you will be picking lovely sweet peas. You can also grow them in containers.
You can east the whole pea, pod and all. Or you can wait until the peas have filled the pods and use the peas.
Broad Beans, Runner Beans, and spinach are also very easy to grow. I’ve grown spinach and runner beans in containers but I find Broad Beans need a little more space to make the crop worthwhile.
Can I use frozen vegetables?
You can make Creamy Pasta with Summer Vegetables with frozen vegetables. Frozen broad beans are excellent, sugar snap peas don’t have the fresh snap if cooked from frozen, but you could substitute frozen garden peas or petit pois for the sweet flavour.
Alternative Vegetables to use in Creamy Vegetable Pasta
As summer progresses, different vegetables become available. The following would work equally well in this recipe. Simply keep the overall weight of vegetables the same and mix and match.
- Swiss Chard
- Courgettes (Zucchini)
- Runner Beans
- French Beans
- Beetroot leaves (it might turn a little pink)
- Pak Choi
More Summer Vegetable Recipes from Farmersgirl Kitchen
Radish Asparagus and Avocado Salad
More simple vegetable pasta recipes
One Pan Arrabiata Pasta – Crunch & Cream
Easy Romanesco Pasta with Lemon and Garlic – Tin & Thyme
Vegetarian Vermicelli Fideo Pasta Bowl – Simply Food
Zucchini and Carrot Light and Simple Spaghetti – My Little Italian Kitchen
One-Pot Ligurian Pesto Pasta with Potatoes and Asparagus – Food to Glow
How to make Creamy Pasta with Summer Vegetables
Fill the saucepan with plenty of water and bring to the boil. Add salt, then cook the pasta until just al dente (when there is still a little bite).
Heat the oil in a large saute or frying pan. Add the chopped spring onions and cook for a couple of minutes on a medium heat. Add the Sugar Snap Peas and broad beans and stir fry for about 5 minutes.
Add the washed spinach leaves and cook for a few more minutes until the spinach has wilted.
In a bowl mix the cornflour with a little of the milk to make a paste. Then add the rest of the milk to the pan and heat gently. Add the milk and cornflour mix, stirring all the time until the sauce starts to thicken. Then add the grated parmesan cheese.
Drain the cooked pasta and add to the pan, stirring gently to cover the pasta noodles with sauce.
Just before serving add the finely chopped fresh herbs, making sure they are distributed through the sauce. Serve with shavings of parmesan cheese and a sprinkling of extra herbs on top.
WHY NOT PIN FOR LATER?
Creamy Pasta with Summer Vegetables
Ingredients
- 150 grams tagliatelle or other pasta
- 2 spring onions finely chopped
- 150 grams sugar snap peas sliced into 2 cm pieces
- 300 grams broad beans in the pod yields 100 grams beans
- 100 grams spinach washed
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp cornflour
- 300 ml milk
- ½ tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 50 grams parmesan cheese finely grated
- 1 tbsp mixed herbs finely chopped, I used fennel, rosemary, thyme and marjoram
- Extra herbs to sprinkle before serving
- Shavings of parmesan cheese to serve
Instructions
- Fill the saucepan with plenty of water and bring to the boil. Add a pinch of salt, then cook the pasta until just al dente (when there is still a little bite).
- Heat the oil in a large sauté or frying pan. Add the chopped spring onions and cook for a couple of minutes on a medium heat. Add the Sugar Snap Peas and broad beans and stir fry for about 5 minutes.
- Add the washed spinach leaves and cook for a few more minutes until the spinach has wilted.
- In a bowl mix the cornflour with a little of the milk to make a paste. Then add the rest of the milk to the pan and heat gently. Add the milk and cornflour mix, stirring all the time until the sauce starts to thicken, Simmer gently for 2-3 minutes, season with salt and pepper to taste. Then add the grated parmesan cheese.
- Drain the cooked pasta and add to the pan, stirring gently to cover the pasta noodles with sauce.
- Just before serving add the finely chopped fresh herbs, making sure they are distributed through the sauce. Serve with shavings of parmesan cheese and a sprinkling of extra fresh herbs on top.
Notes
- If using fresh broad beans in the pod, you need 3 times the weight you require of beans.
- I used young broad beans at the start of summer. If you are using more mature beans then cook them in a little salted boiling water for 5 minutes. Let them cool then remove the outer skin to reveal the tender green beans.
- If using frozen baby broad beans you will need 100g grams.
- Swiss Chard
- Courgettes (Zucchini)
- Runner Beans
- French Beans
- Beetroot leaves (it might turn a little pink)
- Pak Choi
This looks gorgeous Janice! What a fabulous summer pasta dish.
Thank you. I’m really enjoying going into the garden and picking my dinner!
So fresh and light and perfect for summer! Too bad we don’t eat like this in winter! 🙂
Thanks, it’s more difficult in winter, but I still try to eat lots of vegetables.
Oh I can’t wait until we’re growing more peas and beans again. This looks so good and everything always tastes so much better when you’ve grown it yourself. I now have raised veg bed envy.
Next year you will be picking your peas and beans. I am so pleased with my raised beds, Brian made a fantastic jib building them with a bit input from a paid gardener which helped at the planning stage. Next up will be a greenhouse.
I love how you don’t use a tonne of pans for this, making that creamy roux right there in the pan is so clever!
I’m all for less washing up!
Now you know what I am going to say Janice? This is totally my kind of pasta dish. Love the step-by-step photos too. Sharing!
Thank you! I take that as a huge compliment. I was rather pleased with it, I’m so inspired by my garden produce.
This is the kind of dish that really screams of summer, and I love it most when you can use harvests from your own garden or allotment, though good quality fresh from the supermarket or grocers definitely works too!
I’m very lucky to have the space to grow vegetables and I love to be able to go out and pick them fresh, then cook. But you are right, good produce is widely available.
Love that photo of the summer veg laid out on the tea cloth. It’s making me feel like I wish summer was here – which is very unusual for me.
I love summer and it’s such a joy to pick your own vegetables from the garden.