RCP: Pasta with green asparagus

"Summertime and the living is easy........"

Pasta with green asparagus

Preparation

Martin,

I enjoy your posts and elegant cite.

We rarely see white asparagus in the markets here and when we do it is nothing like
what I ate when in Beelitz during the season. We had spargle every meal for days.
In the US, the local green asparaugs season ends in July although it is now in the markets year around.

I frequently make pasta with seasonal vegetable sauces and your green asparagus pairing and saucing sounds wonderful. One aesthetic comment is that when I do veg sauces with pasta I try to make the shape of the veg and pasta complementary. If the spargle is extremely thin then a linguini or tonarelli works. If thicker then I would cut the pasta into short lengths and pair it with a shape like campanelle or farfalle. It is unsettling to me to have widely disparate shapes. Don't know if anyone else is as fanatical but certain shapes dictate they type of sauce and pasta just like the sauce dictates the type of cheese.

[Jenise]

Martin,

I enjoy your posts and elegant cite.

We rarely see white asparagus in the markets here and when we do it is nothing like
what I ate when in Beelitz during the season. We had spargle every meal for days.
In the US, the local green asparaugs season ends in July although it is now in the markets year around.

I frequently make pasta with seasonal vegetable sauces and your green asparagus pairing and saucing sounds wonderful. One aesthetic comment is that when I do veg sauces with pasta I try to make the shape of the veg and pasta complementary. If the spargle is extremely thin then a linguini or tonarelli works. If thicker then I would cut the pasta into short lengths and pair it with a shape like campanelle or farfalle. It is unsettling to me to have widely disparate shapes. Don't know if anyone else is as fanatical but certain shapes dictate they type of sauce and pasta just like the sauce dictates the type of cheese.

Christina, I do the same. My favorite pasta for asparagus is penne with the asparagus cut on the diagonal. And I love to serve it with a good rich Sancerre--it's a seamless combination. I like the looks of Martin's recipe, though, including the use of pumpkin seeds.

Christina,

you´re right, my pasta was not perfect for asparagus. Unfortunately I had no other choice, linguini, penne, farfalle or other small shape paste would be better.

I love Beelitz-asparagus! BTW, I used Mini-Thai-Asparagus, they have a nice strong flavor and they are so small that you don´t need to boil in water.

All the best,
Martin

Martin,
Nice post! A local restaurant makes a very appealing pasta/asparagus/prosciutto/parmigiano dish in season that I like. Rather than Jenise's Sancerre (which, I expect, would be nice) I usually get an atypical Alto Adige Pinot Grigio that goes rather well with it.

Mark Lipton

Hi Mark,

sounds great your dish! I strongly recommend you Pinot Grigio "St. Valentin" from the estate St. Michael Eppan from Alto Adige.
Also the Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc "St. Valentin" are gorgeous, one of the best white wines from Italy.

http://www.stmichael.it/

Cheers,
Martin

Hi Mark,

sounds great your dish! I strongly recommend you Pinot Grigio "St. Valentin" from the estate St. Michael Eppan from Alto Adige.
Also the Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc "St. Valentin" are gorgeous, one of the best white wines from Italy.

http://www.stmichael.it/

Thanks for the tip, Martin. Even better, the wines are indeed imported to the US!

Mark Lipton

Martin, your recipe sounds (and looks) delicious!

This is a pasta with asparagus recipe that we enjoy a lot. The only changes I make are using only the lemon zest (no juice), adding a few drops of white truffle oil, and using Cipriani brand tagliarelli. I think the fresh shitakes make the dish. It's a great side dish for a nice light piece of fish.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/SPAGHETTI-WITH-ASPARAGUS-SHIITAKE-MUSHROOMS-LEMON-AND-CHIVES-234432