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Creamy Asparagus Pasta with Pine Nuts
It's asparagus season and that's a big deal in our house because asparagus is my husband's favorite vegetable. This is a between seasons cream sauce, not winter heavy, but not summer light either.
While my husband and I have taken to making our own pasta, it's been a hectic week getting things in order because we're headed out of town this weekend. So while I'm always an advocate of homemade pasta, not today my friends. While this is a cream sauce, it's not terribly heavy, so you can still taste the asparagus. Just quickly blanch the asparagus and then stop the cooking with ice. The pine nuts add an element of fat and texture as well. Use whatever variety of pasta that you have on hand for this like a farfalle, orecchiette, or gomito. You just want to choose one that will catch the sauce.
INGREDIENTS
| 1 tbsp | salt |
| 12 oz | dried pasta |
| 1 cup | ice |
| 2 bunches | asparagus, tough ends snapped, spears cut into 2-inch pieces |
| 2 tbsp | unbleached flour |
| 2 cups | organic milk |
| 1/4 cup | sour cream |
| 1/4 cup | parmesan cheese |
| 1 tbsp | butter |
| 2 tbsp | organic heavy cream |
| 1 tsp | fresh lemon juice |
| Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste | |
| ΒΌ cup | roasted pine nuts |
PREPARATION:
Method
- Add salt and pasta to a large pot of boiling water and cook for about 9 minutes, depending on the pasta that you choose.
- While that's cooking, add ice to a colander. When there's about 3 minutes of cooking time left on the pasta, add the asparagus. Pull the asparagus out of the water with a ladle or hand colander and drain through the iced colander to stop the cooking. Drain the pasta as well in another colander and then place it back in the pot off the heat.
- Meanwhile, put flour in a large skillet. Slowly whisk in milk until blended, taking care to get into corners of skillet. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring often. Reduce to a simmer for four minutes.
- Once the sauce has thickened slightly, remove from the heat and whisk in sour cream, parmesan cheese, butter, heavy cream, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
- Pour over pasta and stir to coat the pasta. Add asparagus back in and top with pine nuts. Put over low heat to heat through once more if necessary.
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