BATON ROUGE, La. -- In spite of its Italian name and near classic status, pasta primavera is not a dish from the Old Country. It was created by New York City chef-restaurateur Sirio Maccioni.

Maccioni owns Le Cirque 2000, a renowned French restaurant in Manhattan. According to food historian and restaurant critic John Mariani, Maccioni was entertaining a group of chefs at a hunting camp in Canada in 1975. It had been a long evening, everyone was ravenous -- but no one wanted to eat anything too heavy because of the late hour.

Maccioni went into the kitchen, grabbed a bunch of fresh vegetables, and made up two sauces, a cream sauce and a fresh tomato sauce. He steamed the vegetables, and served them and the sauces over fettuccine.

The dish was a sensation.

Maccioni dubbed it pasta primavera -- it's a wonderfully light evocation of sunshine and spring growth, and "primavera" means spring in Italian. He put it on his restaurant's menu, where it was soon the most popular item and was copied everywhere.

Pasta primavera is not a quick-fix dish, but it is an adaptable dish. Use whatever vegetables you like. The original Le Cirque recipe calls for steaming the vegetables; more recent variations suggest roasting the vegetables.

If you choose to roast the vegetables, you will do better using a firmer pasta, such as penne or shell, because the roasted vegetables are heavier and will overwhelm thin spaghetti or fettuccine.

It's important to cut the fresh vegetables into uniform-size pieces. You can't expect chunks of carrot, for instance, to cook in the same amount of time that a delicate snow pea takes. If you don't want to be cooking vegetables in steps or separate batches, keep in mind the size, texture and cooking time of the vegetable combination you choose.

Grilled Vegetable Primavera

2 yellow squash, cut lengthwise into long sticks

2 zucchini, cut lengthwise into long sticks

2 carrots, peeled and cut diagonally into chips

1 sweet onion, quartered and separated (I used an OSO onion)

1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut lengthwise into quarters

3 tablespoons reduced-calorie Italian dressing

8 ounces uncooked penne pasta

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

12-ounce can evaporated milk

2 ounces (about 1/4 cup) Neufchatel light cream cheese

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

2 tablespoons shredded or grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Combine squash, zucchini, carrots, onion and bell pepper in a large bowl. Toss with Italian dressing.

Pour vegetables into a foil-lined baking pan and roast in the oven over medium-high heat, 350 F to 400 F, 5 to 7 minutes or until tender, turning occasionally. Cool vegetables slightly and coarsely chop; set aside.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and oil; drain.

Place flour in a cast-iron skillet; gradually add evaporated milk, stirring until well blended. Cook over medium heat until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Add cheeses, salt and pepper, stirring with a wire whisk until cheeses melt. Add chopped vegetables to the skillet of cheese sauce and stir to heat the vegetables through.

Pour the vegetables and cheese sauce over the pasta in a bowl; toss gently to coat. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 430 cal., 8.4 g fat, 23 mg chol., 607 mg sodium.

(Adapted from a recipe in "Discover Dinnertime" by Susan Dosier and Julia Dowling Rutland.)