As I mentioned a few days ago, I make it my mission to clean out the fresh food in my refrigerator before we go out of town. The easiest way to do that in the winter is to make a soup and the easiest way the rest of the year is to make pasta. I call this “garbage” pasta because I’ll put any and everything in it.

This particular time, I had a partial box of cherry tomatoes plus fresh heirloom tomatoes from my garden. In addition, there were partial bags of green beans and sugar snap peas. I always have garlic and onion on hand, so those always start the dish.

The first step is to get a big pot of water boiling. Add salt and blanch vegetables such as green beans, sugar snap peas, asparagus, snow peas, carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower for a couple of minutes. Use a slotted spoon or spider to remove them and have a big bowl of ice water ready to drop them into – to stop the cooking.

Once they’ve cooled down, drain and set aside.

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