Tagliatelle with Asparagus and Pesto
17/11/2023Here’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
- 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.
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the asparagus for about 5 minutes until they are tender but still crunchy.
- Drain the asparagus, preserving the cooking water, and set aside.
- 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.
- 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.
- In a large pan, sauté the asparagus with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil for a couple of minutes.
- Add the drained tagliatelle to the pan with the asparagus and mix well.
- 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.
- 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.