I’d like to make this tonight, but I’m confused. In step five do you take half of the asparagus olive oil garlic mixture out to blend it? How would you blend just half of it in the pan? So now half of it is blended and half of it is not. And to which of the halves do you add the pecorino and pasta water later?
Thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly. Yes I understand now. That’s kind of what I was imagining, but I wanted to be sure, not get halfway through dinner and get stuck. By the way my wife says her Croatian grandmother always peeled the skin of the asparagus with a vegetable peeler because it’s too stringy. What’s your opinion on this?
Well done! I think that was a smart plan. Croatian grandmother is wise - if the stalks are especially thick, totally. If they are fresh and thin and tender, no. Which kind of asparagus do you have?
Hi Richard! Great question. I just kept all the asparagus mixture (made of the rounds) in the pan, and stuck my immersion/hand blender into the pan to blend approx half. If you don't have an immersion blender, then you could just scoop out about half, blend it in a food processor, and then put it back in the pan. The blended and unblended parts are cooking together - for more texture - so you add the pecorino and pasta water to the entire mixture. I hope this makes sense! Please let me know how it goes and let me know if you need more clarifiication. Buon appetito!
Hi, thanks for getting back to me. I’m in southern California and if I go to the farmers market, I think I’ll be able to get really fresh asparagus. What they have in the grocery store varies from the really thin ones to thick (who knows where they come from?) and sometimes the thick ones have stringy skins. I made an asparagus/goat cheese tart from a recipe on another Substack (Jamie Schler), and I didn’t peel the asparagus, so I got mixed reviews. It’s greener if you don’t peel it so I guess it looks better… anyway I thought it was good.
I’d like to make this tonight, but I’m confused. In step five do you take half of the asparagus olive oil garlic mixture out to blend it? How would you blend just half of it in the pan? So now half of it is blended and half of it is not. And to which of the halves do you add the pecorino and pasta water later?
Thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly. Yes I understand now. That’s kind of what I was imagining, but I wanted to be sure, not get halfway through dinner and get stuck. By the way my wife says her Croatian grandmother always peeled the skin of the asparagus with a vegetable peeler because it’s too stringy. What’s your opinion on this?
Well done! I think that was a smart plan. Croatian grandmother is wise - if the stalks are especially thick, totally. If they are fresh and thin and tender, no. Which kind of asparagus do you have?
Hi Richard! Great question. I just kept all the asparagus mixture (made of the rounds) in the pan, and stuck my immersion/hand blender into the pan to blend approx half. If you don't have an immersion blender, then you could just scoop out about half, blend it in a food processor, and then put it back in the pan. The blended and unblended parts are cooking together - for more texture - so you add the pecorino and pasta water to the entire mixture. I hope this makes sense! Please let me know how it goes and let me know if you need more clarifiication. Buon appetito!
Hi, thanks for getting back to me. I’m in southern California and if I go to the farmers market, I think I’ll be able to get really fresh asparagus. What they have in the grocery store varies from the really thin ones to thick (who knows where they come from?) and sometimes the thick ones have stringy skins. I made an asparagus/goat cheese tart from a recipe on another Substack (Jamie Schler), and I didn’t peel the asparagus, so I got mixed reviews. It’s greener if you don’t peel it so I guess it looks better… anyway I thought it was good.
Yum! Off to get some pecorino
haha! Brava, Sinù! Do you use pecorino a lot in your cooking?