Got any suggestions? Everything online seems a little weak:
1 t. olive oil
1 lb. asparagus, 1 inch diagonals
2 bunch scallions, 1 inch diagonals (!)
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
2 t. lemon zest
12 oz. penne pasta
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper
1/4 cup basil, slivered
Oil, asparagus, scallions to cook until tender; wisk ricotta and zest separately; add 1/4 cup pasta water to ricotta mixture; add penne to ricotta; add vegetables; season with S&P, garnish with basil.
My thoughts:
Gorgonzola would be better.
Even gorgonzola would be too heavy.
Would crushed tomatoes be good in this? What if there wasn’t zest?
A pasta dish with no garlic? What world did I get this recipe from?
Couple of ideas, 1 cheat the asparagus. If you have fresh pasta, cook the asparagus with the pasta and drain together.
Serve with your favourite cheese sauce. eg
in saucepan
1/2 glass white wine bring to hot (not boiling)
add crushed garlic
add 1 cup grated parmesan.
add 1 tablespoon cream
stir until the cheese melts,
in a separate cup mix a tablespoon of brandy (or the white wune) with 2 teaspoons of cornflower.
Add the cornflower mix to the cheese sauce and stir rapidly allowing heat to get very close to boiling (boiling won’t ruin this, but don’t boil hard) stiring until desitred thickness is achieved.
If it starts getting too thick add more wine and bring back to near-boil.
Toss the cooked and drained pasta/asparagus with the cheese sauce, and then sprincle with fresh black peper and grated nutmeg.
This can be modified several ways. Use 2/3rd Parmezan and 1/3rd gorgonzolla instead of all parmezan. Add strips of parma ham or cooked bacon into the sauce mixture.
Ocasionally a dish without garlic should be made for the novelty value, but only on very rare occasions. If you are going for a summer zesty flavour, like the recipie you quoted, then I can understand leaving out the garlic, but that recipe NEEDS the fresh BASIL to work, and I would be tempted to squeeze the lemons over the finished dish or possibly add capers for more flavour as a summer meal.
Couple of ideas, 1 cheat the asparagus. If you have fresh pasta, cook the asparagus with the pasta and drain together.
Serve with your favorite cheese sauce. e.g.
in saucepan
1/2 glass white wine bring to hot (not boiling)
add crushed garlic
add 1 cup grated parmesan.
Add 1 tablespoon cream
stir until the cheese melts,
in a separate cup mix a tablespoon of brandy (or the white wine) with 2 teaspoons of cornflower.
Add the cornflower mix to the cheese sauce and stir rapidly allowing heat to get very close to boiling (boiling won’t ruin this, but don’t boil hard) stirring until desired thickness is achieved.
If it starts getting too thick add more wine and bring back to near-boil.
Toss the cooked and drained pasta/asparagus with the cheese sauce, and then sprinkle with fresh black pepper and grated nutmeg.
This can be modified several ways. Use 2/3rd Parmesan and 1/3rd gorgonzola instead of all parmesan. Add strips of parma ham or cooked bacon into the sauce mixture.
Occasionally a dish without garlic should be made for the novelty value, but only on very rare occasions. If you are going for a summer zesty flavor, like the recipe you quoted, then I can understand leaving out the garlic, but that recipe NEEDS the fresh BASIL to work, and I would be tempted to squeeze the lemons over the finished dish or possibly add capers for more flavor as a summer meal.
Asparagus does have a pretty strong flavor on its own, and I think that gorgonzola would be too much. This sounds like this would be a light pasta dish for springtime (when asparagus is in season), and the lemon and basil would be perfect for the flavor in this. If you did want to add garlic, I’d do it sparingly.
I wouldn’t do the cheat and cook the asparagus with pasta, unless you throw the asparagus in during the last 2 minutes of cooking. If you were to cook the asparagus in boiling water for 7 to 10 minutes, you’re going to have overcooked asparagus mush.
I think you could theoretically add tomatoes to this, but I like the idea of just the ricotta/asparagus/lemon/basil flavors going on in this. It sounds nice and clean flavored.
Asparagus does have a pretty strong flavor on its own, and I think that gorgonzola would be too much. This sounds like this would be a light pasta dish for springtime (when asparagus is in season), and the lemon and basil would be perfect for the flavor in this. If you did want to add garlic, I’d do it sparingly.
I wouldn’t do the cheat and cook the asparagus with pasta, unless you throw the asparagus in during the last 2 minutes of cooking. If you were to cook the asparagus in boiling water for 7 to 10 minutes, you’re going to have overcooked asparagus mush.
I think you could theoretically add tomatoes to this, but I like the idea of just the ricotta/asparagus/lemon/basil flavors going on in this. It sounds nice and clean flavored.
I’d cook up the pasta separately for one thing. You’re dealing with extremely clean and straight forward flavors here. Make sure the asparagus tips cook off right as the pasta finishes. Melt some unsalted butter in the hot drained pasta. Use a potato peeler to shave off curls of fine Parmesano Reggiano cheese into the cooked pasta and then dump in the asparagus tips. Toss lightly and serve immediately. Garnish with chopped Italian flat leaf parsley or minced chives.
If you have to get all fancy schmancy, work in some diced prosciutto ahead of the asparagus tips. Serve with herbed garlic bread plus a nice salad of buffalo milk mozerella interleaved with ripe red tomato slices and an aged red wine vinegar dressing. I’d opt out of the prosciutto and have beef carpaccio on the side instead.
Well, I couldn’t check this thread last night, and I cooked about an hour after I posted.
Blech.
Met my friend at the grocery store after work, with recipe(s) in hand. The asparagus sucked (waaay too thick), the basil was wilted, and the scallions were weak (chives might have been a better choice). And my grocery is usually top notch!
It just came out disappointing. I went with the ricotta (my friend is a ricotta fan), and that was fine. Since the asparagus was so thick, I julienned it to help cook. That actually helped - it got about as tender as possible without turning to mush. Still a little firm, but that’s good. I also added a 1/2 cup of white wine to the asparagus, which brought out some good flavor.
Probably just a spring recipe. I’ll try it next year when the ingredients are better. Thanks for the advice, as well.
