Creamy Asparagus Pasta
Another tasty refugee from Milk Street. I changed this one around a pretty good bit. It’s kind of against my religion to pulse raw asparagus into dust as the first step in making a sauce. I chose to go a different way and let the asparagus dazzle as intended.
Ingredients:
2 lbs asparagus, tough ends trimmed
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
8 oz wide, flat pasta, such as tagliatelle or fettuccine
1 Tsp salted butter
2 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 medium shallots, halved and thinly sliced
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp Trader Joe’s Chili-Lime Spice
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus more to serve
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest, and juice of lemon. plus lemon wedges to serve
Directions:
- Prepare ingredients prior to starting.
- Divide Asparagus tips and stems. Slice stems into 3/4 in diagonal pieces. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add noodles and cook for 5 minutes
- Add Asparagus stem pieces to water and cook for an additional 1 minute
- Add Asparagus tips to water and cook for an additional 2 minutes
- Drain noodle water (reserving 1 cup for sauce)
- Meanwhile, in a dutch oven over medium-high, melt the butter. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, shallots and then cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are softened, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the cream and bring to a simmer over medium. Cook, stirring often, until thickened ~ 2 to 3 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the 1/4 cup of Parmesan.
- Add noodles/asparagus to sauce and toss adding pasta water 1 Tsp at a time until noodles and asparagus are covered in a creamy sauce
- Stir in lemon zest and lemon juice. Dust with TJ’s Chili-Lime Spice and salt an pepper to taste.
Serve with grated Parmesan cheese and lemon wedges.