Tagliatelle alla crema di asparagi

Tagliatelle with Asparagus Cream Sauce, plus five more recipes for asparagus lovers.

Spring is finally here! There’s nothing that lifts a body’s spirits quite like the green shoots and gentle sun of spring after a long, hard winter. 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, 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. Here at Memorie di Angelina we’ve already seen how to make asparagus lasagna, a fabulous if effortful dish. Today I want to share with you a quicker and easier way to enjoy asparagus and pasta: tagliatelle alla crema di asparagi, tagliatelle dressed with a silky smooth sauce of puréed asparagus simmered in butter and cream and, if you like, a shallot or two for extra savor.

It's a dish you can whip up in no more than 30 minutes, assuming you’re using store-bought pasta. But as easy as it is to make, it’s out of this world delicious, with the butter and cream providing a lovely sweet counterpoint to the grassy flavor of the asparagus. And to my eyes it looks quite elegant on the plate. That makes tagliatelle alla crema di asparagi equally suitable as a quick weeknight supper or as a primo piatto for a special occasion dinner.

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More recipes for asparagus lovers…

Asparagi all’agro (Asparagus with Lemon and Olive Oil)

Asparagus with Lemon and Olive oil, or asparagi all’agro, is one of those dishes that is so quick and simple you might argue it hardly needs a recipe. But simple doesn’t necessarily mean easy or obvious. In fact, simple dishes can be quite tricky to pull off. The very simplicity leaves you with nowhere to hide, so to speak—use a lesser quality ingredient or faulty technique and you can wind up with a mediocre dish.

But no need to be daunted. This dish doesn’t require you to be a master chef, you just need to pay attention to detail if you want to enjoy it at its best. The all’agro technique is one that, for me, typifies the simple elegance of Italian cooking at its best. The asparagus are cooked until just tender—not “crisp-tender” in the Asian manner but fully tender, with some bite. They are then dressed with an emulsion of lemon juice and olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and, if you like, some fresh herbs.

You can serve your Asparagus with Lemon and Olive oil as a side dish or a light antipasto.

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Strudel salato con asparagi e prosciutto (Savory Strudel with Asparagus and Prosciutto)

When we think of Strudel, for most of us the sweet German (and northerneastern Italian) dessert made with apples will come to mind. But did you know that a Strudel can be savory, too?

Here’s a classic example of the savory Strudel: Strudel salato con asparagi e prosciutto, filled with asparagus, prosciutto and cheese. It’s stupidly simple to make, especially if you cheat a little and use store-bough puff pastry. No need to let anyone know, the result will look and taste like you’ve been slaving for hours…

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Risotto agli asparagi (Asparagus Risotto)

My method for making risotto agli asparagi involves using the asparagus three different ways to take full advantage of its lovely flavor. The woody bottoms of the asparagus, which you’d otherwise throw away, simmer in water along with aromatics to make a vegetarian broth for cooking the rice. The tender tips are blanched then sautéed in butter for the garnish. The rest gets chopped up for cooking along with the rice itself.

Granted, this method is a bit more involved than the typical risotto, but for asparagus lovers like myself, there’s no better way to enjoy its unique taste.

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Lasagne agli asparagi (Asparagus Lasagna)

A good dish of lasagna is one of the most satisfying meals I can imagine. But, to be honest, a dish of classic lasagna, whether it a southern style lasagna di Carnevale or a northern lasagne alla bolognese can be a bit on the heavy side, especially as the weather starts to get warmer.

That’s the beauty of a vegetable lasagna. If not exactly dietetic, it will be lighter than meat-based lasagna yet totally satisfying. You can make lasagna with almost any vegetable, but perhaps my favorite is lasagne agli asparagi, or Asparagus Lasagna, made with the most elegant and most toothsome of spring vegetables.

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Frittata con asparagi e pancetta (Asparagus and Pancetta Frittata)

Eggs complement asparagus so well—think of asparagi alla milanese, topped with a fried egg— and they complement cured pork too—bacon and eggs, anyone? And then again, asparagus and pork get on very nicely, too, as in the classic Asparagus Wrapped in Pancetta. So what could be more natural than getting all three ingredients together? That’s what this Asparagus and Pancetta Frittata does beautifully.

Like any frittata, this is a great choice for a spur of the moment meal, served in big wedges. It can also be left to cool and cut into smaller pieces as a part of a buffet or as ‘finger food’ to enjoy with an aperitif.