1 bunch asparagus, cut into ¼ inch slices, tops left intact
1 cup fresh or frozen green peas
1 cup pea shoots
1 cup Parmesan, plus extra for garnish
½ cup of reserved pasta water
¼ cup lemon juice
kosher salt and pepper to taste
chopped parsley or another fresh herb, for garnish
Takes ,
serves 2.
Instructions
Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Add salt and pasta and cook until al dente. Reserve a ½ cup of pasta water before draining. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil to prevent sticking, toss, cover and set aside until use.
In a large skillet on medium heat, bring oil and butter to temperature. Once bubbling, add chili flakes and garlic. Move and flip the garlic in the pan until it softens. Add the cream, cooking until it comes to a boil. Add the asparagus and cook for 1 minute. Add the pasta followed by the peas and pea shoots, tossing to combine. Add the Parmesan and pasta water and toss to combine.
Remove the pan from the heat. Sprinkle with the lemon zest then add the lemon juice. Toss to combine.
Transfer to soup plates and garnish with black pepper, additional grated cheese and a freshly chopped herb. Serve immediately.
Pasta Primavera with Asparagus
Ingredients
2 cups fusilli pasta
1 tablespoon kosher salt, to boil pasta
1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
½ teaspoon chili flakes
5 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
½ cup 35% cream
1 bunch asparagus, cut into ¼ inch slices, tops left intact
1 cup fresh or frozen green peas
1 cup pea shoots
1 cup Parmesan, plus extra for garnish
½ cup of reserved pasta water
¼ cup lemon juice
kosher salt and pepper to taste
chopped parsley or another fresh herb, for garnish
Directions
Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Add salt and pasta and cook until al dente. Reserve a ½ cup of pasta water before draining. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil to prevent sticking, toss, cover and set aside until use.
In a large skillet on medium heat, bring oil and butter to temperature. Once bubbling, add chili flakes and garlic. Move and flip the garlic in the pan until it softens. Add the cream, cooking until it comes to a boil. Add the asparagus and cook for 1 minute. Add the pasta followed by the peas and pea shoots, tossing to combine. Add the Parmesan and pasta water and toss to combine.
Remove the pan from the heat. Sprinkle with the lemon zest then add the lemon juice. Toss to combine.
Transfer to soup plates and garnish with black pepper, additional grated cheese and a freshly chopped herb. Serve immediately.
Pasta Primavera with Asparagus
5 / 5. 1
Perfectly cooked fusilli tossed with fresh springtime asparagus and peas in a creamy garlic and lemon sauce with Parmesan…
This PASTA PRIMAVERA WITH ASPARAGUS is your next meal idea for weekdays, weeknights and any time you’re hungry.
Let’s start with the terminology. Primavera is the Italian word for “spring”. This dish, then, is a springtime pasta made with asparagus. So far, so good. The dish itself has its roots in American-Italian cuisine, but there’s a Canadian twist to this delicious homemade pasta dish. Back in 1975, Sirio Maccioni, owner of New York’s famous Le Cirque, travelled to a friend’s place on Robert’s Island in Nova Scotia. There, along with two of his chefs, he experimented making a pasta dish using butter, cream, cheese and fresh vegetables. Their innovative dish became all the rage, and we’re following their lead with this PASTA PRIMAVERA WITH ASPARAGUS.
I know, you looked at the above photo of the ingredients needed to make this and thought, “But there’s more than just asparagus in there.” Correct, but not too much more. The basics include a good short-noodle pasta, butter, olive oil, heavy cream AKA 35% cream, kosher salt, black pepper, chili flakes and Parmesan cheese. Then, of course, there’s garlic plus two additional fresh veggies: green peas and pea shoots. Grabbing these ingredients will be easy, especially if it’s made in season. It is a springtime recipe after all.
ASPARAGUS
We’re big fans of asparagus here at WATC. We’ve used it to make SOUP, a FRITTATA, SALAD and even a TART. But in this case, it’s as if it were grown specifically for this flavourful pasta primavera. In selecting your asparagus, look for rather skinny, tender shoots, and choose fresh, locally grown asparagus whenever possible. When prepping the stalks, trim off the asparagus tips before slicing the asparagus stems into smaller pieces. Adding the tips whole adds a nice visual treat when serving. A suggestion on cooking – don’t let the asparagus cook in the heated cream sauce for too long. You’re looking for a bit of bite.
FUSILLI PASTA
We prepared this delicious dish using a favourite short-noodle dry pasta, fusilli. We find the corkscrew shape of this readily available pasta has two purposes. First, it’s pretty. Second, the shape allows the veggies and cheesy, lemony sauce to cling to the pasta. Of course, you can make this recipe with your favourite pasta. Try it with penne pasta, radiatori, macaroni, rigatoni, or farfalle. We’ve even seen the dish made using linguine, tagliatelle, fettuccine, and spaghetti, though we find the ingredients tend to slide off of long noodles. You can also make the recipe with fresh pasta or even gluten-free varieties, whatever you desire.
Last tip about the pasta is to make sure to cook it al dente, and don’t forget to reserve half a cup of the pasta water to be used later in the sauce. That salty, slightly starchy liquid will help give the dish a rich and silky consistency.
OTHER SPRING VEGETABLES
When making this, we invite you to add other springtime vegetables to the skillet. We added green peas and pea shoots, but have also had great success with wild leeks, fresh baby spinach, zucchini, fiddleheads, spring onions and even sweet baby radishes. When adding the garlic and red pepper flakes, feel free to dial back the quantities listed in the ingredients down below. We love garlic and added a good bit, and if you’re not a fan of spicy, add only half a teaspoon of the flakes.
THE CREAMY SAUCE
Make sure to watch the VIDEO created to accompany this recipe. In it we explain how to make a lemon cream sauce where the cream doesn’t curdle. Doing this like a pro involves warming a large skillet on medium-high heat and sautéing the garlic and chili in some melted butter and oil. Then we warm the cream right before adding the asparagus, cooking until it softens a bit. We drop pasta into the pan, followed by the peas and pea shoots. Last two steps are to stir in the cheese and then, off-heat, add the lemon zest and fresh lemon juice. Adding the juice at the very end, prevents the hot cream mixed with the other ingredients and cheese from curdling. Pro tip: when doubling or tripling this recipe, spill everything into a large bowl and stir it together.
CHEESE AND HERBS
We really like this spring pasta recipe made using a hard cheese that’s kinda salty like pecorino cheese or a big, robust-flavoured Parmigiano Reggiano. We also thought this recipe deserved a fresh herb garnish, and though we used fresh parsley, feel free to substitute with other fresh herbs like basil, tarragon, dill or chives.
SERVE
Our PASTA PRIMAVERA WITH ASPARAGUS is good to go as soon as you’ve done a final toss and added an herb garnish. We suggest transferring helpings to rimmed soup plates serving with either extra cheese and freshly ground black pepper garnish or on the side.
Although this recipe was crafted to serve two, you may have a tiny bit left in the skillet. We won’t refer to this as “leftovers”, because, quite frankly, they won’t be; you’ll finish the pasta in one go, guaranteed!
PIN IT!
Remember this lovely primavera for your next weeknight meal and save it for future reference. Click that BOOKMARK tab at the top of your browser and also PIN it to one of your PINTEREST boards for easy access. Good idea to also forward it to friends; everyone loves a solid weeknight meal idea.
PASTA PRIMAVERA WITH ASPARAGUS is the taste of spring!
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Ingredients
2 cups fusilli pasta
1 tablespoon kosher salt, to boil pasta
1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
½ teaspoon chili flakes
5 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
½ cup 35% cream
1 bunch asparagus, cut into ¼ inch slices, tops left intact
1 cup fresh or frozen green peas
1 cup pea shoots
1 cup Parmesan, plus extra for garnish
½ cup of reserved pasta water
¼ cup lemon juice
kosher salt and pepper to taste
chopped parsley or another fresh herb, for garnish
Directions
Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Add salt and pasta and cook until al dente. Reserve a ½ cup of pasta water before draining. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil to prevent sticking, toss, cover and set aside until use.
In a large skillet on medium heat, bring oil and butter to temperature. Once bubbling, add chili flakes and garlic. Move and flip the garlic in the pan until it softens. Add the cream, cooking until it comes to a boil. Add the asparagus and cook for 1 minute. Add the pasta followed by the peas and pea shoots, tossing to combine. Add the Parmesan and pasta water and toss to combine.
Remove the pan from the heat. Sprinkle with the lemon zest then add the lemon juice. Toss to combine.
Transfer to soup plates and garnish with black pepper, additional grated cheese and a freshly chopped herb. Serve immediately.
Until Canada Day
