Tagliatelle alla crema di asparagi (Tagliatelle with Asparagus Purée)

Spring is a very special time of year. There’s nothing that lifts a body’s spirits quite like the green shoots and gentle sun of spring. And then there’s the wonderful produce that starts to appear in our markets this time of year—tiny peas, artichokes, fava beans in their hefty pods, plump ruby red strawberries and, perhaps best of all, slender green asparagus.

Asparagus makes for a great antipasto or side dish, but it can also serve as a delicious condimento for risotto or—even better in my opinion—pasta. We’ve already seen how to make asparagus lasagna—a fabulous if effortful dish. Here’s a quicker way to enjoy asparagus and pasta, tagliatelle alla crema di asparagi. You boil the asparagus, then purée it with a bit of cream, then simmer it in butter and if you like a shallot or two for extra savor. Then in goes the pasta. Toss and serve.

Its a dish you can whip up in no more than 30 minutes, assuming you’re using store-bought pasta. But it’s out of this world delicious, with the butter and cream providing a lovely sweet counterpoint to the grassy flavor of the asparagus.

Ingredients

For 4-6 servings

• 300=400g (11-14 oz) tagliatelle, either homemade or store-bought

For the sauce:

• 500g (1 lb) fresh asparagus (more or less)
• 250 ml (1 cup) of heavy cream
• 50g (2 oz) butter
• Salt
• 1-2 shallots (optional)

Grated parmigiano cheese

Directions

Prepare your pasta (optional)

If making your own fresh egg pasta: preparing the dough following the instructions in this post, then roll it out very thin (setting 3 on my KitchenAid attachment) and cut it into strips about 6mm (1/4 inch) wide using the fettuccine/tagliatelle cutter attachment of your pasta machine.

Prep and cook your asparagus

Trim and (if using fat asparagus, peel) your asparagus spears.

Boil the asparagus in well-salted water until it is perfectly tender (not crisp-tender), about 5-6 minutes for thin asparagus, 7-8 for the thicker variety. (Test for doneness with a paring knife.)  Drain, refresh under cold water and pat dry.

Make the sauce

Cut off the tips of your cooked asparagus and set them aside. Cut the rest into lengths and place into a food processor or blender with the heavy cream and a pinch of salt. Process until you have a perfectly smooth purée.

In a wide skillet, melt the butter. If using the shallots, sauté them gently for a minute or two. Add the asparagus purée and let it simmer for just a few minutes, until it has warmed and slightly reduced. Turn off the heat.

Sauté the asparagus tips with a nut of butter and a pinch of salt, just long enough for them to absorb the butter and warm up. Do not let them brown. Add to the asparagus cream, reserving a few for garnish.

Cook and sauce the pasta

Boil your pasta in well salted water ntil al dente. (For extra flavor, use the same water you boiled the asparagus in, topped up if need be.)

For freshly made egg pasta, just let it come back to the boil. If your pasta has been rolled really thin, that should be enough. Otherwise, you can let it go for a minute or so, but no more. If using store-bought tagliatelle, follow the instructions on the box.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and transfer it to the skillet, along with a small ladleful of the pasta water.

Mix the pasta with the asparagus purée and tips over low heat. Let the pasta absorb the purée until it is well coated but slight quite slithery. You can add more water if things feel sticky.

Serve

Serve your tagliatelle alla crema di asparagi garnished with the reserved sautéed tips on top, either in individual warmed plates or in a communal bowl for the table. Have grated parmigiano on the side for those who like it.

Notes on tagliatelle alla crema di asparagi

The recipe, as you will have seen, involves a good number of steps but isn’t particularly hard to make. You do need to take some care, however, in choosing your ingredients, in particular the pasta.

Making or buying the tagliatelle

If you want to make the pasta yourself, as mentioned above, see our post on Making Fresh Egg Pasta for details.

If you’re buying your tagliatelle, your best option would be house-made fresh egg pasta from your local Italian deli or supermarket. Just try to make sure they are actually made with eggs. And, if possible, all or partially with soft wheat flour. Too many often stores will sell so-called fresh “tagliatelle” and “fettuccine” made with durum wheat (aka semolina) flour and water, just like dried commercial pasta. These pastas have a much less delicate texture than true egg pasta.

And then there are commercial fresh tagliatelle or fettuccine. Some are also fake but there are some good ones out there. Among the easier to find brands, I rather like Giovanni Rana. And finally, there are some fine dried egg pastas you can buy. My personal favorite brand is Bionaturae, which makes tagliatelle with a mouth feel and taste almost like homemade. The tagliatelle from Campofilone and De Cecco are also excellent.

What you want to avoid if you can are the commercial dried pastas called “tagliatelle” or “fettucine”. These names just describe the shapes. They are really just factory dried pastas in every other respect.

Choosing your asparagus

For making tagliatelle alla crema di asparagi, and most other dishes, I personally prefer the thin ‘pencil’ asparagus. They don’t need peeling and have a more delicate flavor than their thicker cousins. But of course you can make this dish with either variety.

Ideally, the ratio of asparagus to pasta by weight should be something around 1.5:1. But if you buy a bunch of asparagus and it’s slightly under or over the indicated weight, there’s no need to fuss.

Variations

If you can’t find proper tagliatelle or fettuccine, and don’t want to bother with making your own, the asparagus cream sauce is also very nice with short, stubby dried pastas like penne or, better yet, its little sisters, pennette. Frankly, I find this a better option that going with “fake” tagliatelle or fettuccine.

If you’re a carnivore, you could add some cured pork, in the form of pancetta, cooked ham or Speck, cut into dice and added to the butter to sauté before the asparagus cream along with the shallots if using.

For a lighter pasta agli asparagi, you can forego the purée and simply sauté chopped cooked asparagus in butter, then toss with the boiled pasta and grated parmigiano. It’s also wonderful, and even easier than this recipe.

Print Recipe

Tagliatelle alla crema di asparagi (Tagliatelle with Asparagus Purée)

Ingredients

• 300 =400g 11-14 oz tagliatelle, either homemade or store-bought

For the sauce:

• 500 g 1 lb fresh asparagus (more or less)
• 250 ml 1 cup of heavy cream
• 50 g 2 oz butter
• Salt
• 1-2 shallots optional
• Grated parmigiano cheese

Instructions

Prepare your pasta (optional)

• If making your own fresh egg pasta: preparing the dough following the instructions in this post, then roll it out very thin (setting 3 on my KitchenAid attachment) and cut it into strips about 6mm (1/4 inch) wide using the fettuccine/tagliatelle cutter attachment of your pasta machine.

Prep and cook your asparagus

• Trim and (if using fat asparagus, peel) your asparagus spears.
• Boil the asparagus in well-salted water until it is perfectly tender (not crisp-tender), about 5-6 minutes for thin asparagus, 7-8 for the thicker variety. (Test for doneness with a paring knife.)  Drain, refresh under cold water and pat dry.

Make the sauce

• Cut off the tips of your cooked asparagus and set them aside. Cut the rest into lengths and place into a food processor or blender with the heavy cream and a pinch of salt. Process until you have a perfectly smooth purée.
• In a wide skillet, melt the butter. If using the shallots, sauté them gently for a minute or two. Add the asparagus purée and let it simmer for just a few minutes, until it has warmed and slightly reduced. Turn off the heat.
• Sauté the asparagus tips with a nut of butter and a pinch of salt, just long enough for them to absorb the butter and warm up. Do not let them brown. Add to the asparagus cream, reserving a few for garnish.

Cook and sauce the pasta

• Boil your pasta in well salted water ntil al dente. (For extra flavor, use the same water you boiled the asparagus in, topped up if need be.)
• For freshly made egg pasta, just let it come back to the boil. If your pasta has been rolled really thin, that should be enough. Otherwise, you can let it go for a minute or so, but no more. If using store-bought tagliatelle, follow the instructions on the box.
• When the pasta is cooked, drain and transfer it to the skillet, along with a small ladleful of the pasta water.
• Mix the pasta with the asparagus purée and tips over low heat. Let the pasta absorb the purée until it is well coated but slight quite slithery. You can add more water if things feel sticky.

Serve

• Serve your tagliatelle alla crema di asparagi garnished with the reserved sautéed tips on top, either in individual warmed plates or in a communal bowl for the table. Have grated parmigiano on the side for those who like it.

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