Pasta with Creamed Asparagus Sauce

I was fortunate enough to visit my family in Germany during Easter. It was a short but wonderful trip. I had not seen my German family in over a year and was happy to reconnect with them all. I spent a week with my niece and her family in Lüneburg. In my humble opinion, this is the most livable town I have ever been in. You can walk to almost everything. Downtown is a vibrant community with shops that cater to the residents and some tourist attractions for visitors. 

After a wonderful week, my very pregnant niece, her three-year-old daughter, and I took the train to our village, where we celebrated Easter. Easter is my favorite holiday in the village. Here is a link of a previous Easter trip to Germany.

My village

A day after Easter, a German holiday, I boarded a train with hundreds of other fellow travelers to watch a dear young friend perform at the opera in Bonn. My adoptive granddaughter, Tara, who had studied for four years in Berlin, was performing in the musical Hairspray. I was incredibly proud of her, and the production was wonderful. After spending a couple of days in Bonn, the former capital of West Germany, it was time to take the train to Frankfurt and fly home. 

Once home, I cooked up a storm as usual. For my book club, I made my seafood pasta, and it turned out very nicely. I didn’t entertain as much as I usually do; I cooked simple meals for my husband and myself. I love asparagus, and as long as it’s still in season, I’ve been cooking with it. I found this wonderful new recipe: a rich sauce made with asparagus and different cheeses. Omit the bacon, and you have a vegetarian dish. I enjoyed the bacon.

This pasta dish is the perfect comfort food, and even vegetable haters will eat some of the green stuff. I am thrilled to have found this recipe. The amount of pasta is flexible. If you want more sauce, cook fewer noodles. Thin out the sauce with pasta water if you prefer a thinner sauce.  Use any shape of pasta you like  or have in your pantry. This dish comfortably feeds 4 to 6 people, depending on individual appetites or what is served alongside it.

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Ingredients:
¾ lb. tube pasta or other pasta 
1 lb. green asparagus
1 large burrata cheese piece
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
⅓ cup basil leaves, sliced 
4 strips of hickory-smoked bacon
3 TBS butter
2 TBS of olive oil and more 
1 cup of hot pasta water
Salt and pepper 

Direction:
​Put on some “Big Night” Italian music and heat the pasta water. Add 1 TBS of salt to the pasta water. Cut off the tips of the asparagus and set them aside. Break off the woody ends of the asparagus and discard them. Slice the asparagus stems into 1-inch pieces. Heat the butter and oil in a frying pan with a lid. Add the asparagus and sauté for a few minutes. Pour in 1 cup of pasta water and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Most of the liquid will evaporate after this time. While the asparagus cooks, grate the Parmesan cheese using a microplane. Place the bacon in a cold frying pan and sauté until crispy. Discard most of the bacon fat and sauté the asparagus tips in the pan. Break the bacon into small pieces and try not to eat too much. 
Put the asparagus pieces, the burrata and Parmesan cheese, the basil leaves, salt, and pepper into a Vitamix or blender. In the Vitamix, start with the lowest setting and then increase to a higher setting. Taste the sauce; add salt and pepper, some pasta water, and a shot of olive oil. You want a thick and smooth sauce. In the meantime, cook the pasta according to the instructions on the bag. Taste for doneness. Mix the drained pasta with the sauce. Add the asparagus tips and bacon. Taste for seasoning and add more pasta water if necessary.  

Buon Appetito!
Recipe by Luca Pontarosa
Cooked by the Sunnycovechef