Pasta Primavera

Dang, those big ole nitrogen-fixing peas in the backyard got to be good for something, eh?

I harvested about a cup and a half of pea-pods from the backyard, and shelled them, providing maybe a quarter cup of fresh peas. I then prepared one medium carrot by peeling it, then slicing it into thickish matchsticks.

I then took one small young leek from the garden and thinly slided the dense end. This is about 1.5Tb of leek slices. Then I minced a small clove of garlic. I cut a 1Tb pat of butter from a stick, and measured out and equal amount of all-purpose flour.

In the meantime, I had water boiling to cook a serving (alright, a serving and a half) of whole wheat penne pasta. Salted water, of course.

I started a basic bechamel by melting the butter and sweating the leeks, adding the garlic at the end. Once everything was sufficiently softened, I slowly added the flour (through a sieve), mixing it with the whisk until fully integrated and browned.

On another burner, I began sautéing the carrots in olive oil till slightly browned. Don't move them around too much or they'll just be soft and not caramelized. Caramelization provides the essential sweetness, so get it there. No excuses. After the carrots were slightly browned, I tossed in the peas and squeezed the juice of about half a lemon over the peas and carrots. The acid deglazes the pan somewhat (I think), and provides some water so that the peas steam more than they sauté. I let the heat go on them a bit more, then turned it off to focus on the bechamel.

Adding a half-cup of milk to the white sauce is the final step. All I had was 1%, but it worked out fine. I haven't completely figured out the best way to integrate the milk yet, but doing it little by little, whisking smooth between each addition seems to work well. Once all the milk is integrated, I let it sit over med-low heat until it's thickened. I feel like ideally it shouldn't bubble, but again, I don't really know what's proper.

Assembly. Pasta has been draining in the colander and is nice and dry by now. Ready to accept sauce. I put it in a nice bowl, spooned a liberal amount of bechamel over the top, and dumped some of the now gently softened veggies over the top. A little salt, pepper, and a little splash of lemon juice, and I was ready to go. Dee-lish.

Also, I had meant to add parmeseano-regiano, but forgot. Was good anyway.