I believe it started in 1975, when I visited Prince Edward Island with a number of colleagues, including Craig Claiborne of the New York Times. To eat we had only lobster and wild boar. After a week of this, everyone said, "Can we have some pasta?" I set out to make two dishes, one with vegetables, one Alfredo style. But in the end I mixed it all together, vegetables with spaghetti and cream. After Claiborne wrote about it in the Times, everybody started to come to Le Cirque and ask for spaghetti alla primavera. But my French chef said, "You want to do spaghetti? I don't want spaghetti in my kitchen!" I didn't want a crisis. So I decided to prepare it in the dining room, on a cart, tableside. It looked nice, and it tasted nice. We've never put it on the menu, but people still ask for it. —Sirio Maccioni, co-owner of Le Cirque restaurant in New York City
What You Will Need
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp. olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 oz. button mushrooms, quartered
- 1 cup asparagus tips, blanched
- 1 cup small broccoli florets, blanched
- 1⁄2 cup frozen peas, blanched
- 1 small zucchini, quartered lengthwise, cut to 1" lengths, blanched
- 1 lb. spaghetti, cooked al dente
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2⁄3 cup grated Parmesan
- 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
- Kosher salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
- 2 tbsp. thinly shredded basil
- 1⁄2 cup lightly toasted pine nuts
Instructions
Step 1
Step 2
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