Tuesday, May 12: Pasta with Asparagus, Peas, Marscapone, and Lemon
Hello, perfect spring dinner! Cooked some asparagus, shallot, and garlic in olive oil + butter (two fats are better than one, no?), added some peas and marscapone, and finally tossed with pasta, pasta water, parm, and lemon juice! Soooo flavorful, creamy and bright. (P.S. This was LITERALLY the only pasta at my grocery store today.)
See a similar recipe I made without peas or marscapone here.
Start by cooking one pound of pasta in a pot of salted boiling water. Make sure to undercook the pasta by a minute or two! You will finish cooking it in the pan with the sauce, and undercooking it allows it to absorb liquid without getting mushy, and encourages it to release even more starch to help create the sauce. Another very important step: save a few cups of the starchy, salty cooking water before draining it! (Or just add the pasta directly from the pot to the sauce, keeping the pot of pasta water at the ready.)
While the pasta is cooking, get started on the sauce (it’s a quick one!). Melt 1-2 TB butter in 1-2 TB olive oil in a large saute pan over medium (the pan needs to be big enough to eventually toss one pound of pasta in). Add 1 minced shallot, a few minced cloves of garlic, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of red pepper flakes; saute 3-5 minutes. Next, add one bunch of asparagus, chopped in ~1 inch pieces, sauteing until crisp-tender (about five minutes). Add in 1 cup of frozen peas (no need to thaw) and a few big spoonfuls of marscapone. Stir to warm the peas through and melt the marscapone.
When your pasta is just shy of al dente, add it to the pan with the veggies, along with a big splash of cooking water (keep the heat on low). Toss, toss, toss, alternating adding splashes of pasta water with handfuls of grated parm (I probably ended up using close to a cup of pasta water and 1/2-3/4 cup parm). After a few minutes, you’ll have a thick, creamy sauce coating each noodle. Squeeze in the juice of one lemon (start with 1/2 lemon and go from there). Taste and adjust for salt and lemon, and make sure the pasta is now perfectly al dente (if not, add another splash of pasta water and cook for another minute or two). Note: be sure to leave the pasta on the looser/saucier side, as the pasta will continue to absorb liquid and you don’t want the sauce to be too dry/stiff. Serve with extra parm and lemon.