feast.

So, some tortelli walk into a salad …

Spring has finally sprung in New York. I wish it would stop raining. I’d like it to be about 10 degrees warmer; I’d even take 5. Of course, I’m counting my blessings that it’s not still snowing (as it did this past weekend in the Northeast), and frankly just glad I survived the miserable, horrible winter. In the Greenmarket, it’s ramp-mania; I like ramps, but it’s hard for me to get too excited about $6-per-wimpy-bunch alliums. Apparently chefs like them because they’re the first sign of green in the markets, but I think it’s all a lie. The only vegetables aside from ramps are gulag-worthy: soggy onions, soft apples, potatoes, beets, and other root vegetables in more shades of brown than I care to count. I’m not fooled. It’s not spring. There’s no asparagus or peas in sight — and those, my friends, are real greenery. Nevertheless, the relatively balmy weather (I didn’t even have to wear tights!) has caused a possibly premature shift in my diet. I’ve been craving veggie burgers (a.k.a. grilling food), guacamole, crisp salads, and, uh, ice cream. This salad is a perfect transition food that will last you through spring. It is a hybrid of a simple pasta dish and a simple salad — not quite fully either, and in my opinion, better.

I’m not really a salad girl. Sure, I’d be plenty happy with a salad, but I’m not big on lettuces. I can trick myself by using fancy lettuce — mesculun, arugula, mâche — or better yet, adding a lot of other ingredients to the salad. Indeed, seemingly exotic ingredients often suffice to distract my palate: chickpeas/garbanzo beans (depending on what coast you’re on); fancy cheeses; chopped hard boiled eggs; tomatoes; olives; artichoke hearts; hearts of palm; toasted nuts; beets; pickles; you name it. (Consequently, I’m a big fan of the chopped salad.) Nevertheless, salads don’t tend to leave me satisfied. By contrast, pastas tend to be too heavy or too dull. As a vegetarian, either you get a heavy, creamy, cheesy, lump of pasta or you get a lighter, boring tomato-based one. (No protein for you!) This “pasta salad” of sorts gives you the best of both worlds.

This dish is filling, but still light. It has the benefits of a spring-like salad, with the added heartiness of more wintery pasta dish. Best yet, it’s quick enough to throw together on a weeknight, only dirties one dish (!), and is all the while a healthy dinner. In short, it’s my kind of meal.

Hybrid pasta salad
From 101 Cookbooks

I used beautiful, fresh broccoli rabe and fennel tortelloni from Russo’s, which I highly recommend any New Yorkers stop by. Pronto.

• 1/2 lb. fresh stuffed pasta (ideally ravioli, tortelloni, or tortellini)
• 1 bunch tender asparagus, cut into 1 1/2-inch segments
• 1 cup frozen petite peas
• 2.5 oz baby spinach, washed and dried
• extra-virgin olive oil, the best you can find
• flaky sea salt (such as Maldon or fleur de sel) and fresh ground black pepper
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to serve
• toasted pine nuts, to serve (optional)*

In a 5 quart pot, bring salted water to boil. Meanwhile, place spinach in a large serving bowl. When the water reaches a boil, add pasta. When the pasta begin to float, add asparagus and peas. Cook just a few minutes until asparagus and peas turn bright green and are tender but still a bit crisp; pasta should be al dente. Strain the pasta and vegetables in a colander, and immediately transfer to the serving bowl. Do not rinse the pasta, asparagus, and peas before you add to the spinach; you want the heat to wilt the spinach ever so slightly. Toss all in a healthy glug of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately, dusted with Parmesan.

* I usually add pine nuts, but, once again, read too much for my own good. Hopefully I’ll get over this sooner than, uh, meat …

Serves 4-6.