Three-Cheese Vegetable Pasta
While the water is coming to a boil for some dried pasta, we get all the ingredients ready for a simple, comforting, cheese and vegetable sauce. We vary Aunt Tara's Fettucine Alfredo sauce to accommodate our cheese selection and add lots of vegetables we have on hand. Originally served as part of: An Inspired Pasta.
Ingredients
- ½ pound rotelle pasta (De Cecco)
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 3 tablespoons sweet onion (minced)
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 2/3 cup skim milk
- 2 small wedges mix of Locatelli Pecorino romano and Parmigiano reggiano cheese
- 1 piece Gruyère cheese
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
- salt & pepper
- 1 cup fresh florets broccoli
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 slice Italian bread (toasted)
- 10 grape tomatoes (halved)
Instructions
We begin by heating a large pot of water for the pasta. In a medium pot, we melt the butter over low heat and then start to cook our onions over medium-low heat. When the onion is translucent, we add the cream and milk then cook, whisking occasionally as the mixture is heated.
Meanwhile, we pulse the pieces of Locatelli and Parmigiano in our food processor - yielding ½ cup of grated cheeses. With our grating disk, we shred the pieces of gruyère cheese, cut to fit in the feed tube of our processor. We have 1 cup of packed gruyère cheese. When the cream-milk mixture is hot, but not boiling yet, we add the cheeses, a little at a time, and whisk well. Next, we mix the cornstarch and water in a small bowl and then whisk this into the almost boiling mixture. We lower the heat, add some salt and freshly ground black pepper, and continue to whisk occasionally as we cook the pasta and get ready the other vegetables.
We add the rotelle to the boiling water and cook for about 12 minutes (as directed by the package). We put the broccoli florets in a microwave-safe bowl and cook on the "fresh vegetables" function of our microwave - just for a few minutes until bright green and tender. We add the frozen peas to the sauce and stir well. These just take a few minutes to heat through. Just before the pasta is al dente, we add a couple of tablespoons of the pasta cooking liquid to the cheese sauce since it is rather thick and we want to "marry" the flavors.
As the pasta is cooking, we put our freshly toasted piece of bread into the food processor and turn on to make bread crumbs. We set this aside.
We strain the pasta in a colander and then put the wheels back into the large pot. We add 3 cups of the cooked pasta to the cheese sauce, season it with more black pepper and toss in the cooked broccoli and halved tomatoes.
We serve garnished with some freshly toasted bread crumbs.
Ingredients
- 1 tsp butter
- 3 tbsp sweet onion (minced)
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ⅔ cup skim milk
- 2 small wedges Pecorino Romano and Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 1 piece Gruyère
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp water
- salt and pepper
- ½ lb rotelle (De Cecco)
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 slice Italian bread (toasted)
- 10 grape tomatoes (halved)
Instructions
What's a kid job?
A Kid job is a step kids can help with, with a grown-up nearby, not one they do on their own. Every kid is different, so go by what your child can do rather than by age. Roughly:
- Little ones (about 2 to 4) can stir, pour in ingredients a grown-up has measured, tear lettuce, wash vegetables and sprinkle toppings.
- Older kids (about 5 to 8) can also measure and level, crack eggs, whisk, roll and cut out dough, and put things together.
- Bigger kids can read the recipe aloud, keep track of the timer, and take on more of the cooking as they're ready.
Steps with a knife, microplane, skewers, stove, oven, grill or hot oil, or with raw meat, poultry or seafood, are marked Grown-up. Kids can still watch those, from a safe distance.
Put a large pot of water on for the pasta. Melt the butter in a medium pot over low heat and cook the onion over medium-low until translucent. Add the cream and milk and heat, whisking now and then.
Meanwhile, pulse the hard cheeses in the food processor (about ½ cup) and shred the Gruyère with the grating disk (about 1 cup, packed).
When the cream is hot but not boiling, whisk in the cheeses a little at a time. Stir the cornstarch into the water and whisk it in. Lower the heat, season, and whisk now and then.
Cook the rotelle about 12 minutes. Microwave the broccoli a few minutes, until bright green. Stir the peas into the sauce. Just before the pasta is al dente, add a couple of tablespoons of pasta water to the sauce.
Kid job
Whirl the toast into crumbs in the food processor.
Drain the pasta. Toss 3 cups of it into the sauce with more black pepper, the broccoli and the tomatoes. Serve topped with the crumbs.