30 min pasta with ASPARAGUS, PECORINO, and LEMON
AKA Italian springtime in a pasta bowl!
In-season asparagus in Italy is more than just green stems roasted sweet with the mix of sea salt and fruity Ligurian olive oil. It’s part of a moment. It’s open windows with the sound of the newly full piazza as everyone is excited to be out for the first warmish evenings. It’s a cut bowl of succulent blood red Basilicata strawberries on the table, infusing their perfume into the swirling breeze of the kitchen - and also my fingertips from having cut them a few minutes before. It’s April.
And this pasta is all of that - fresh, sweet asparagus brightened with lemon and melding with salty pecorino. Springtime in a bowl of pasta.
It’s the opposite of winter on the Upper West Side of New York City with what looks like asparagus on my plate but tastes like a pale version of it in its full seasonal glory. This is a memory.
Asparagus brings me back in time to a NYC restaurant that I used to frequent with my BFF. We would always order the plate of salmon, sweet potato, and asparagus ALL YEAR ROUND. Asparagus was never out of season. It makes me sad now but at the time I really didn’t know differently.
Fast foward to my northern Italian reality: Asparagus is not available off-season in grocery stores nor the market. Springtime brings multiple varieties all popping with vibrant color and the funny tips that look like Dr. Seuss’s vegetable toothbrush.
thin delicate wild asparagus asparago selvatico which grows spontaneously in yards, forests, and the seaside macchia mediterrenea,
the regular thick sturdy pillars of green asparagus asparago verde, and
today’s market score: purple asparagus: asparago violetto.
You can totally make this seasonal recipe with normal green asparagus; I used half green and half purple at my son’s happy request. Gauge 30 minutes or less from start to putting it in your belly!
pst! Scroll to the very bottom to download recipe pdf!
Spring pasta with asparagus, pecorino, and lemon
Penne con gli asparagi
FOR 4 PEOPLE
8 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
600 grams asparagus
salt
320 grams pasta, penne or mezze penne
120ml / ½ cup cooking water
80 g / 1/3 cup pecorino romano cheese, to taste (or leave out to make it vegan!)
1 untreated lemon, rind grated (approx 1 Tbsp)
freshly ground pepper
1) Fill a big tall pot with water and salt. Set stove burner to high heat. Taste the water to make sure it’s salty like soup or the sea. Add more salt if needed.
2) After you wash your asparagus, bend the asparagus stalks to break off the woody ends at their natural breaking point. Then:
- Throw the woody bases of the asparagus into the water for flavor
- Cut off the asparagus tips, slice in half lengthwise, and set aside
- Slice the rest of the asparagus stalks crosswise into very thin circles
3) Heat the extra virgin oil and garlic in wide, low pan on medium heat. Add the asparagus circles, 1 tsp salt, and half the cooking water, cover and sauté for 10 minutes.
4) When the water boils, add the pasta and cook to the package time (al dente), stirring occasionally.
5) Meanwhile, your asparagus circles should still be bright green but tender to a fork. Blend half of the asparagus/garlic/oil mixture into creamy sauce that will stick to your pasta. (I use a hand blender right in the pan; be careful of splatter if you do it this way!). When the pasta has 3 minutes to go, add the asparagus tips to the asparagus mixture and cover again to cook.
6) Just before the pasta is ready, scoop out another ¼ cup of pasta water and add it to the asparagus mixture with the pecorino romano and grated lemon rind. Stir til creamy.
7) When the pasta is cooked al dente according to the time on the package, strain and immediately add to the asparagus pan and stir to combine. Buon appetito!
Serving tips:
Serve with freshly ground pepper and more pecorino to taste at the table
Notes:
Salt: It’s important not to skimp. This salt is flavoring both your pasta and also your sauce in the form of pasta water.
Pasta: You can also make this with long, thin pasta, particularly fresh egg tagliatelle.
Buon appetito!
x Lolly
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Have a super week! Let me know if you make the pasta!
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?
Yum! Off to get some pecorino