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Spring Vegetable Pasta with Kefir and Chicken

Step into Spring with our Spring Vegetable Pasta with Kefir. The delicious dish spotlights the season’s fresh flavors and is easily doubled to feed a crowd. Feel free to increase the amount of veggies, or use whatever you have on hand. See notes for vegetarian substitutions.

Directions

  1. In a medium/large sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the leeks and squash and cook for about 10 minutes, flipping the squash and leeks to cook evenly.
  2. Add the chopped asparagus and cook an additional 5-6 minutes, until sides of leeks and squash are browned and the asparagus is heated through. Set aside.
  3. In a large stock pot, bring chicken broth to a low boil. Break pasta strands by hand into ½-inch pieces and add to the broth. Boil for 10 minutes, or until pasta is cooked through. Turn off heat and cover with a lid.
  4. In a medium bowl, combine kefir, flour, spearmint, egg yolk and a dash of crushed red pepper. Whisk until smooth and all ingredients are well combined.
  5. After the pasta is finished cooking and has the broth is no longer boiling hot, ladle about a cup of the liquid into the kefir mixture to temper. Whisk quickly until smooth, careful to make sure the egg yolk doesn’t solidify and the kefir doesn’t get too hot.
  6. Add kefir mixture to the pot of pasta and stir quickly to combine.
  7. Add the vegetables and chicken, and turn the heat back to low. Serve warm and garnish with additional chili pepper, spearmint or leek stalk.

    Notes

  • This recipe is great as a soup, too! Simply increase the chicken broth until the desired ratio of liquid to solid is reached.
  • To make this dish vegetarian, leave out the chicken and replace the chicken broth with low-sodium vegetable stock. If more bulk is needed, add grilled tofu, seitan or tempeh.