Along my journey of learning how to live and eat well, I’ve gone through many stages. I think that’s natural. When you’re healing, the body often asks for a way of eating that supports that process — sometimes a little stricter, a little more intentional.

But healing isn’t meant to stay rigid forever.

Over time the reins loosen, balance returns, and foods that once felt out of reach can come back to the table again. For me, pasta was one of those foods.

In recent years I’ve also become deeply interested in fermentation and the quiet benefits of bringing fermented foods into daily life. Using a good sourdough pasta in a simple dish like this adds another layer of nourishment and depth, something that feels both grounding and wholesome.

Modern food culture often gives starches and carbohydrates a bad reputation, but a donut is technically a carbohydrate just as a whole grain or a vegetable is — and those foods live in very different places on the nourishment scale. When pasta is paired with fresh vegetables, good olive oil, and bright lemon, it becomes something entirely different from the heavy dishes people often imagine.

I love making this pasta with sourdough noodles and vegetables from the farmers market, or sometimes straight from the garden. The sweetness of the leeks melting into the pan, the grassy green asparagus, the brightness of lemon zest and juice — together they create a light, silky sauce with nothing more than olive oil and a splash of pasta water.

Leeks are something I especially recommend keeping in this dish whenever you can. As they soften they become almost creamy and sweet, blending beautifully with the pasta and vegetables.

But the recipe is flexible. Any tender vegetables in season will work — peas, spinach, fava beans, or whatever is fresh at the market that week.

Eating a dish like this always makes me feel as though I’ve traveled somewhere warm along the Mediterranean. That region is deeply connected to my heritage and to the foods I love most. Sometimes when I take a bite of this pasta I can almost imagine sitting outdoors somewhere in Spain, Italy, or Portugal, with the air warm and the table simple and full.

Travel doesn’t always have to happen on an airplane. Sometimes it happens quietly in the kitchen.

The life I live here — what I affectionately call Villa Vidal — is one where I stand in my Sol Canyon kitchen most days, cooking meals rooted in nature and simple ingredients, just like this pasta dish. And honestly, I enjoy the making of them almost as much as the eating.

If you’re looking for something light, nourishing, and quietly beautiful, this is one of those recipes that reminds me how much joy can live in the simplest meals — the kind I think of as Small Beautiful Things.