A Farewell to Spring...

Primavera means "Spring" in Italian, or so I've been told.  We have had a cloudy, cold, miserable Spring here in the Pacific Northwest and I, for one, am glad to see this mythical season they call "Summer" arrive.  I do love all the Spring vegetables though, like asparagus, morels and most recently, as you well know, I have discovered the sweet seduction of garlic scapes.  So I thought I'd make this little Pasta Primavera using the last of the local Spring veggies, though I wish I'd thought of this while fiddle heads were still in season... oh well, next year.

Pacific Northwest Pasta Primavera

4 or 5 baby beets
1/2 lb garlic scapes
1/2 lb asparagus
1/8 lb fresh morel mushrooms
1/2 lb kale

1) Roast beets.  Wrap in tin foil and bake for one hour at 350°.
2) After the beets have roasted for about 30 minutes, start the pasta water, and chop garlic scapes and asparagus in 1 or 2 inch pieces.
3) Roughly chop kale into bite-size pieces.
4) Chop morels into rings.
5) Sauté veggies in a frying pan with a little olive oil.  Start with scapes and asparagus.  Add  kale and mushrooms after about 5 minutes.
6) If the garlic scapes are taking too long to cook, add a little water and cover the pan to let everything steam.

A little wine would be nice in the sauté, too. 

7) When pasta water boils, add pasta and cook according to package directions.

 I fubared the alfredo sauce, so it was more like tasty milk with Parmesan curd, but it still tasted awesome...

Alfredo sauce:
1/2 stick butter, melted in pan
1 C skim milk
1 C Parmesan cheese
1 crushed garlic clove
1/4 C fresh parsley
pepper

To make a proper alfredo, you should use cream in place of milk.  This may have been what made mine all farshlugginer...

1) Melt butter in a small saucepan.
2) Boil milk, stirring consistently, for 5 minutes.
3) Slowly add Parmesan.
4) Add garlic clove, parsley, and pepper.

When beets are ready, let cool slightly (until you can handle them) and peel skin off, then slice.  Dress the pasta with the alfredo.  Top with sauteed veggies and sliced beets.

Eat it, 'cause it's awesome!   This could be more quickly made if you cook the beets a day or two ahead of time.  I served this with salmon because we had some that needed to be eaten, but this would probably be better with chicken.