PAPPARDELLE with LEMON & ASPARAGUS
Be Still My Heart
This is a simple tale:
Some time ago dear friends gave us and another couple Christopher Idone's "LEMONS - A Country Garden Cookbook" and organized a dinner for the six of us where we'd each made a course from a recipe inside the book.
Our assignment, if we chose to accept it (we did) was appetizers and one of the dishes we made (let me clarify that -- Richard made) was the lemon pizza with creme fraiche and red caviar... it melted in our mouths.
The "dessert couple" chose the cookbook's lemon meringue pie with a crust to truly "flake" over.
But it was the host couple's pappardelle dish that won my heart and has become my new favorite pasta. Fresh. Creamy. Cheesy. As I wrote above... be still my heart!
End of tale.
End of tale.
Pappardelle w/ Lemon & Asparagus
Ingredients:
1 pound pencil-thin asparagus, approximately 32 stalks
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 pound fresh or dried pappardelle
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Juice of one lemon
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Zest of one lemon, cut into julienne
Grated Parmesan cheese for serving
Directions:
Cutting on the diagonal, trim the tough ends of the asparagus. Cu the asparagus into 3 or 4 even pieces on the diagonal. In a nonreactive kettle of lightly salted boiling water, cook the asparagus for 2 minutes or until just crisp. Blanch in cold running water and drain.
In sauce pan over medium heat, melt the butter and cream. Allow to cook at a low simmer.
Cook the pappardelle in the kettle of salted boiling water until al dente and drain well.
While the pasta is boiling, heat the oil in a large skillet and add the blanched asparagus. Add the hot cream/butter mixture and fold in the lemon juice. Season with pepper.
Add the drained pasta to the sauce and toss well.
Divide among 4 or 5 warm soup plates and sprinkle with julienned zest.
Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.
Serves 4 to 5
