In Good Taste: Primavera
Like Botticelli's painting, primavera (Spring), this time of the year seems full of blossoms, the perfume of spring flowers and golden globes of citrus. It is easy to imagine Flora, the goddess of flowers, who represents the beauty and renewal of life in spring, and Zephyrus, the west wind, blowing the wintry clouds away and bringing the warmer spring weather. primavera dates from around 1480 and depicts a pagan rite of spring, and was thought to have been inspired by verses from Stanzas For The Joust by Agnolo Poliziano in which the writer describes a meadow where grasses and plants grew, where the winds blew, and where "Happy spring was ever present".
Our own rite of spring is more the effervescence we feel as the warm sun is absorbed into our bodies and we scurry around in the garden, preparing and planting and imagining already the fruits of our labour.
This recipe for pasta primavera can be made with tagliatelle, but is just as good with penne. Use enough for four people. A crisp green salad is all that is needed to accompany this rather elegant-looking and tasting dish.
Pasta Primavera
150g broad beans
200g asparagus, washed, with any woody part of the stalks snapped off. Cut into 1-inch lengths
150g French beans, halved
150g peas (frozen unminted are fine)
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
30g butter
350ml cream
pasta for 4
¼ cup of grated parmesan
extra grated parmesan to serve
finely chopped Italian parsley to serve
Heat the butter in a large frying pan and add the fennel. Cook over a low heat for 5 minutes without colouring. Add the cream and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 2 minutes.
Bring a large pot of water to the boil and salt generously. Add the pasta and cook until almost al dente. Add the vegetables to the pasta and continue cooking for another 4 minutes or so. The pasta should be al dente and the vegetables tender. Drain and add to the cream along with the Parmesan. Toss lightly to coat and serve immediately with the parsley to garnish and with the extra Parmesan.
An extremely refreshing dessert to follow this rather rich and decadent pasta is a recipe from The River Café, which makes the most of the abundance of ripe grapefruit at this time. You could serve a crisp biscuit with the sorbet, or in fact serve the sorbet with a wedge of lemon tart...any way is good!
Campari Sorbet
4 cups of grapefruit juice
400g caster sugar
225 ml Campari
juice of 2 lemons
juice of 2 oranges
Whisk together the grapefruit juice and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Add the Campari, lemon and orange juices and mix together. Either churn in an ice cream machine or freeze in a suitable container. Scratch it up with a fork to lighten the flakes of sorbet before serving. Serve in small dishes. Best eaten within a few days.
Spring-cleaning the body of toxins is also a fine task to attend to while the citrus trees stand laden. A cleansing lemon tea first thing each morning (not to mention last thing at night!) could be the best habit you ever adopt. Use your prettiest cup, squeeze in the juice of 1 lemon, and add a thin slice for good looks. Pour on boiling water and drink when cool enough.
Fiona Feasey
