Monday, March 23: Pasta with Asparagus, Lemon, and Parmesan

This was such a simple but absolutely delicious pasta dish — exactly what we need these days, right? I went with asparagus as the veggie, as it’s in season now and I love the combination of asparagus + parm + lemon. But, use what you got! Kale, zucchini, peas (added at the end), etc. would all be great.

Note: This is a really great technique to learn — making a simple pasta sauce with pasta water, butter, and cheese. It seems like it’s not going to be enough, but if you keep tossing and switching off adding a splash of starchy water with a sprinkle of parm, you will eventually create an incredibly flavorful, silky #glossysauce that coats each noodle. It takes some trial and error, but once you have it down, you’ll have a super easy “recipe” with minimal ingredients in your back pocket that you can use again and again in the future!

Another note: I used to be team microplane parm all the way — and while there is still a time and a place for those pillowy piles of the lightest whisps of parm (showered over pasta, for example!), I am fully on board the grated parm train now. By grated parm, I mean the style of parm that looks like what comes in those old school shaker bottles — little crumbs, rather than shreds. You can make it yourself by whizzing up a chunk of parm in a high-powered blender or food processor, or buy the pre-grated stuff — but if you’re doing that, I recommend buying the kind you find in the deli or cheese section that was grated in-store, not the mass-produced pre-packaged kind. It’ll be fresher and literally just made from a block of parm, rather than having anti-clump additives that will make it harder to melt. That is the style of parm you want to use here. While microplaned parm has the tendency to clump up when tossed with pasta + liquid (pasta water, in this case), the little crumbs/dust incorporate MUCH better into a sauce.

Start by cooking one pound of pasta (I used cavatappi) 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! (Personally, I never drain my pasta — I use a spider or tongs to add it directly from the water to the pan or pot of sauce. This not only automatically adds some of the water clinging to the pasta to the sauce, but it also ensures you don’t accidentally pour that “liquid gold” down the drain without saving some first!)

While the pasta is cooking, saute a few sliced cloves of garlic and a minced shallot in a few TB of olive oil with a pinch of salt and red pepper flakes. Next, add one bunch of asparagus, chopped in ~1 inch pieces, sauteing over medium heat until crisp-tender (about five minutes). Add your cooked (well, slightly undercooked) pasta to the pan with a big splash of the cooking water (keep the heat on). Throw in a few TB of butter, a big handful of grated parm (see note above), and the juice of one lemon. Toss, toss, toss! If it starts to look dry, add more pasta cooking water a splash at a time to keep the sauce loose (the pasta will keep absorbing water as it sits, so keep it on the looser side). You also need to use enough water to help the pasta finish cooking. Alternate adding a splash of pasta water with a small handful parm, tossing the whole time, until a glossy sauce forms, coating each noodle. This will take about 3-4 minutes (it will look at first like it’s just a watery, liquidy mess — but trust in the process and keep tossing! Eventually the liquid will thicken and emulsify with the butter, parm, and pasta starch). Taste the pasta to make sure it’s perfectly al dente — if not, add another splash of water and cook it another minute or two. Adjust for lemon, parm, or salt. Then dig in!