Chorizo & Asparagus 'Carbonara'

At the time of cooking, and indeed writing the first draft of this, I was trying to clear the freezer of random odds and ends in the hope that I would then have some space for a dump of freezer meals such as chilli, ragu etc for when the baby arrived and I suspected I wouldn’t have the time (or inclination as it turned out) to cook..

We had two lonely little cooking chorizo wallowing at the back of a drawer somewhere so I figured I’d chuck them into a pasta dish.

The basis of this then was HFW “3 good things” recipe where he uses, surprise surprise, pasta chorizo and asparagus. I wanted to make it a little more carbonara-esque though as, if I’m honest, I wasn’t convinced by the simplicity, so came up with this.


Chorizo & Asparagus “Carbonara”
serves 2

150g spaghetti
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cooking chorizo, diced
100g asparagus tips, woody ends snapped off and sliced into 3 cm lengths
2 large egg yolks
100ml double cream
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Cook pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water and cook according to package instructions, adding the asparagus for the last 3-5 minutes (depending on how thick your asparagus is).

Meanwhile heat oil in a frying pan and add chorizo: cook for about 10 minutes until cooked through and crisp.

In a small bowl beat the egg yolks and cream together and lightly season.

When the pasta is done, drain (reserving a little of the cooking water) and return the pasta and asparagus to the pan then tip in the cooked chorizo and the egg mixture.

Stir everything together quickly so that the eggy sauce cooks in the heat of the pasta, adding a little pasta cooking water if needed to loosen the sauce a little (you probably won’t need to but it is always worth saving a little pasta water, just in case).

Serve immediately with some extra freshly ground black pepper and grated parmesan.

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Lemon Asparagus & Artichoke Farfalle

It was hot the day I made this: hot and muggy and I was distinctly lacking in cooking motivation so I opted for pasta - one of the easiest things to fall back on when you just can’t really be bothered, in my opinion.

I have a document on my laptop just for pasta recipes and a board on pinterest too - we have pasta weekly so it makes sense that I have a lot of inspiration to keep things interesting. And the inspiration for this one can be found here. The original called for making a white sauce with flour, butter & milk but I opted for half fat crème fraîche and egg instead for the creamy sauce. A trick I had employed previously in fact in this pasta recipe.


Lemon Artichoke & Asparagus Farfalle
serves 2

150g farfalle pasta
½ tin artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed & quartered
10-15 asparagus tips, cut in 1-1½ in lengths
½ tbsp lemon juice + ½ tsp lemon zest
white wine
knob of butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 egg yolk
2 heaped tbsp crème fraîche
sea salt + freshly ground black pepper to taste
shaved parmesan or pecorino

Whisk together the yolk and crème fraîche in a small bowl and set aside.

Cook the pasta according to packet instructions.

Meanwhile, spray a large pan or non stick skillet with cooking spray. Add artichoke hearts, lemon juice, and lemon zest and cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes. Add asparagus with a splash of white wine and cook another 2-4 minutes until tender, stirring throughout.

Remove asparagus & artichoke from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add butter and garlic to pan and stir for 1 minute until garlic is fragrant.

Tip in the pasta and pour over the crème fraîche, stirring to coat the pasta in the sauce. Carefully stir in the artichokes and asparagus.

Season with salt and pepper to taste and garnish with parmesan cheese.

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Casarecce with Asparagus, Sausage & Ricotta

Casarecce is a fairly new pasta shape for me: basically short lengths of pasta that have been rolled across their width, with each side rolled in the opposite direction. The rolled length is then slightly twisted so that the pasta is in the shape of a "S" when viewed from the end.

You could however use any short pasta for this - the original recipe (I can’t, unfortunately, remember where that was) that I adapted for instance called for gemelli. Similarly any spicy sausage could be used too - I used sausages that have been seasoned in a Chorizo style rather than actual cooking chorizo and they worked very well.


Casarecce with Asparagus, Sausage & Ricotta 

serves 2

100g thin asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2 in lengths
150g casarecce
130-150g chorizo style sausages (2 fat sausages), removed from skins & “crumbled”
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp double cream
95g ricotta
15g Parmesan, finely grated
4 basil leaves (optional)
sea salt and freshly ground pepper (to taste)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the asparagus. Cook for a few minutes until just tender then remove with a slotted spoon and plunge into iced water to stop cooking and refresh.

Bring the water to a boil again, add the pasta and cook according to packet directions.

Meanwhile heat a large sauté or frying pan and cook the sausage and onion until the meat is browned and the onions softened. Drain any fat that has rendered from the sausages and add the asparagus, cream, and a small pinch of salt and simmer for 2 minutes.

Drain the pasta, reserving some cooking water, and add the pasta to the sauté pan along with the ricotta, a good grind of black pepper and 2-3 tbsp of the reserved pasta water.

Stir around carefully so that everything is mixed well.

Add the Parmesan and stir again then serve immediately garnished with the basil leaves.

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Creamy Smoked Trout Spaghetti

Wednesday night, until the last few months or so (when I switched to Friday mornings), was Pilates night aka we need something that is quick to cook for dinner night.. which in my world generally means pasta. I’d been looking therefore for some interesting and quick pasta recipes else it would be all too easy to always fall back on my pancetta pasta or defrosted bolognese / ragu from the freezer (of which we always have a few portions).

I found this on Not Quite Nigella’s website which is a good source of inspiration for me.

I’ve adapted this slightly - mainly through necessity as we didn’t have any cream and I didn’t want to buy more when such a small amount would be used. The creaminess in this case comes therefore from the egg yolks, starchy pasta water, and a little crème fraîche.


Creamy Trout Spaghetti
serves 2

200g spaghetti (I used wholewheat)
1 egg, plus one yolk, beaten well with a fork (you won’t need all of this)
100g hot smoked trout
small handful asparagus tips, sliced into 1½ inch lengths
1 tbsp crème fraîche
a small handful of fresh dill, roughly chopped
15g parmesan
salt and pepper

Boil the spaghetti according to directions in plenty of salted, boiling water.

Beat the crème fraîche into the eggs.

Blanch asparagus in the boiling water, remove drain, plunge into cold water then drain again.

When the pasta is ready, take out one cup of the pasta water and set aside. Drain the spaghetti and immediately, put it back in the pot along with the egg and cream mix and use the heat of the spaghetti to cook the eggs and asparagus - the asparagus gives it a nice crunch so you don't want it too soft.

Add some of the pasta water to loosen the sauce a little then add the trout and dill and season with a little salt and a generous grind of black pepper.

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Pasta con Asparagi

I’d not heard of Craig Claiborne (with whom this recipe originates) but apparently he was one of the three best-known food writers in America during the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s when he wrote for the New York Times (if you are interested the other two were Julia Child and James Beard). He also, in 1961 published the ‘New York Times Cookbook’ which sold over three million copies and was eventually translated into seventeen languages.

I actually saw this recipe on Food 52, which is a brilliant online food community - excellent for sourcing great recipes from professionals and amateurs alike. As they say themselves on site this is “a mashup of all the best pasta sauces -- tomato, asparagus, and carbonara -- with surprisingly harmonious results”.

The carbonara angle comes from the fact that the vaguely sweet-sour tomato sauce is mellowed just before serving with the last-minute addition of beaten eggs. The egg pulls the sauce together to give you something glossy and silky rather than heavier as cream is wont to do.

I’ve used the beaten egg trick in a few pasta recipes now and it is a definite winner.


Pasta con Asparagi
Serves 2

150g fresh asparagus, woody ends removed, cut into 2 inch lengths, tips intact
10g butter
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, sliced quite thickly
small (227g) tin chopped plum tomatoes, pushed through a sieve
1 tsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh basil, finely chopped
150g tortiglioni, penne or rigatoni
1 egg, plus one yolk, beaten well with a fork (you won’t need all of this)
15g grated parmesan

Bring a large pan of salted water to boil ready for the pasta.

Heat the butter in a large, frying or sauté pan and add the asparagus pieces plus a little salt and pepper to taste.

Cook for about 6 to 7 minutes, or until just tender and lightly browned and then transfer to a plate and put to one aside.

In the same pan, add the oil and garlic. Cook until the garlic is lightly browned and then discard it.

Add the tomatoes, parsley and basil. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, add the pasta to the water and when it returns to a boil, cook for about 8-9 minutes or until tender. Do not overcook.

Just before the pasta is done, turn off the heat under the tomatoes and add about half of the beaten eggs, stirring vigorously so that they blend without curdling.

Add the asparagus to the tomato sauce and stir carefully.

Drain the pasta, reserving a little of the pasta water.

Add to the tomato asparagus sauce and stir in half the cheese. Add a tablespoon or 2 of the pasta cooking water to loosen the sauce a bit.

Serve with the remaining cheese sprinkled over.

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"Spring" Orecchiette with Buratta

I found this recipe on a blog called Feasting at Home - the photos on the blog are lovely and this just looked so very, very fresh and pretty. Plus of course at the time of cooking and eating it was Spring so was a great time for lovely spring vegetables and herbs.

As it turned out I was ill and curled up feeling sorry for myself on the sofa so the bf was chef for the night - as such I have more or less written the recipe here (apart from the conversion of US to metric measures and also scaling down the amounts) as I’m not really sure what adaptations, if any, he made.

A couple of points that I will make however is that in my experience orecchiette pasta always need slightly longer cooking than the package will state (it is way too chewy otherwise in my opinion) and also that it is wise to assemble your ingredients in such a way that it allows you to cook this quickly as it seemed to cool down extremely quickly otherwise.

Burrata, that gorgeously creamy adulterated mozzarella is great here but I know that it isn’t the easiest of cheeses to get your hands on so sub with normal mozzarella if necessary.


Spring Orecchiette Pasta with Burrata
serves 2

200g 16 oz Orecchiette pasta
125g peas
100g sugar snap peas
125g asparagus tips
1 onion, finely chopped
100g mushrooms, sliced
1½ tsp olive oil
sea salt & freshly cracked black pepper
1 egg
25g Parmesan, freshly grated
½ ball burrata cheese
lemon zest
1 tbsp fresh mint, chiffonaded

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the orecchiette according to the package instructions (see note above).

In a large frying or sauté pan heat half the oil over a medium heat and sauté the onion until softened but not coloured. Add the mushrooms, turning the heat down a little and sautéing until golden and softened. Set aside.

Whisk the egg in a small bowl and set that aside also.

When the pasta is nearly cooked, reserve some of the cooking water and set to one side then add the peas, sugar snaps and asparagus tips to the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes. Drain the pasta and vegetables and remove them to the pot with the heat off.

With a fork, stir in 1½ tablespoons of hot pasta water, half a tablespoon at a time, gradually, to the eggs, to temper them. Stir well.

Pour the egg mixture over the pasta and with a wooden spoon, gently stir to coat the pasta. Stir in about 15g of Parmesan, some black pepper and a pinch of salt. You may also need a little more pasta water to loosen.

Divide between 2 plates or bowls and scatter each with the mint, lemon zest and remaining Parmesan. Finish each plate with a dollop each of burrata and serve.

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Asparagus, Mint & Lemon Risotto

This is pretty much a Jamie Oliver recipe really - you can find the original here: I think my only real adaptation was to add the fried prosciutto as a garnish, the salty savouriness worked pretty well.

Jamie’s idea of finely slicing the risotto lengths into little discs and keeping the tips whole is a good one: it gives a really good asparagus flavour to the risotto itself and of course you will get a delicious whole tip in (nearly) every bite.

Anyway, this is one of my favourite risotto recipes so give it a try.


Asparagus, Mint & Lemon Risotto
Serves 2

For the risotto base

250ml vegetable stock
½ tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped
1 stick celery, trimmed and finely chopped
150 g risotto rice
65 ml vermouth
For the risotto

100g asparagus, finely chopped up until the tips
250 ml vegetable stock
12.5g butter
1 small handful Parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus a block for grating
handful fresh mint, leaves picked and finely chopped
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
2 slices of prosciutto, lightly fried, to serve

Bring the stock to a low simmer in a small saucepan.

In a separate large pan cook the shallot and celery very gently until soft but not coloured in the olive oil. About 15 minutes.

Add the rice and turn up the heat. Stir constantly for a couple of minutes so that the rice or vegetables don’t catch and then quickly pour in the vermouth. Keep stirring until the vermouth has evaporated.

Turn the heat down to medium-low (as you cook you will need to adjust this as necessary: you don’t want the rice to cook too quickly so that it has a stodgy outside but uncooked middle, nor too slowly or it will become a stodgy but gloopy mess).

Add a ladleful of stock to the rice. Stir often (but you don’t need to be a slave to it) until the liquid has been fully absorbed before adding the next ladleful.

Continue to add ladlefuls of stock until it has all be absorbed and the rice has begun to soften but is still al dente. This can be anywhere from 15-30 minutes so towards the end of the cooking time you’ll need to be a bit vigilant. You may also need some more stock.

Put a large saucepan on a medium to high heat and pour in half the stock, the risotto base and the finely sliced asparagus stalks and the tips.

Stir constantly and gently bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer until almost all the stock has been absorbed.

Add the rest of the stock a ladleful at a time until the rice and asparagus are cooked. Check the rice often - you don’t want to overcook it so it should hold its shape but be soft and creamy and the whole kind of oozy.

Turn off the heat and quickly stir in the butter, Parmesan, mint, lemon juice and most of the lemon zest. Check the seasoning carefully and adjust if necessary.

Put a lid on the pan and leave the risotto to rest for a few minutes. Meanwhile you can quickly fry off the prosciutto.

Serve the risotto in bowls with a slice of fried Prosciutto atop each, drizzle over a little olive oil and scatter with the remaining lemon zest.

Have some more Parmesan on the table so you can add more if you like.

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