Tagliatelle with Asparagus and Pesto

Here’s a delicious recipe for Tagliatelle with asparagus and a Genoese pesto, with that ever-present Italian touch.

Ingredients

  • 300 g of egg tagliatelle
  • 500 g of fresh asparagus
  • 100 g of Genoese pesto (ready-made or homemade)
  • 50 g of grated Parmesan cheese
  • Salt to taste
  • Pepper to taste (optional)
  • Extra virgin olive oil

For the Genoese pesto, should you wish to prepare it yourself (amounts for about 100 g of pesto):

  • 50 g of fresh basil
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 20 g of pine nuts
  • 40 g of grated Parmesan cheese
  • 10 g of grated Pecorino Romano cheese (optional)
  • 80 ml of extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt to taste

Preparation

  1. Clean the asparagus by removing the woody part of the stem, then cut them into pieces of about 2-3 cm, leaving the tips whole.
  2. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the asparagus for about 5 minutes until they are tender but still crunchy.
  3. Drain the asparagus, preserving the cooking water, and set aside.
  4. In the same water, cook the tagliatelle following the cooking time indicated on the package. Drain them al dente, remembering to save some of the cooking water.
  5. In the meantime, if you are making the pesto, put the basil, garlic cloves, pine nuts, Parmesan, Pecorino, a pinch of salt in a blender and blend everything, adding the oil gradually until you get a creamy sauce.
  6. In a large pan, sauté the asparagus with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil for a couple of minutes.
  7. Add the drained tagliatelle to the pan with the asparagus and mix well.
  8. Pour the pesto over the pasta and mix gently, adding a bit of the set-aside cooking water if necessary to make the sauce more fluid and easier to mix.
  9. Serve immediately, finishing with freshly ground pepper (if desired) and a generous grating of Parmesan cheese.

Curiosity

Pesto, originating from Liguria, is commonly associated with pasta, but can also be an excellent versatile dressing for grilled vegetables, focaccia, or as a base for other sauces. In the case of tagliatelle with asparagus, it combines the aroma of basil with the sweetness of asparagus, creating an exquisite all-Italian blend.