Nothing says spring like the sight of local asparagus in the stores and this lemon pasta with asparagus is the perfect dish to make at this time.

It is possible to find asparagus in the store all year. However I don’t like to buy food that has travelled half the world. Especially when, with a bit of patience, we can get it locally during spring. There are certain fruit and vegetables that simply don’t grown on these latitudes, too far north, too cold, and I will buy those fruit and vegetables occasionally even though I know the consequences for the environment. But asparagus is something that I look forward to eat in the spring. Starting in March, I follow the country of origin of the asparagus and slowly it gets closer to where I live. It is a fun game I play with myself every year.

There are two recipes, I usually make during this time, one is an asparagus salsa with salmon, and the other is this lovely lemon and asparagus tagliatelle. The freshness of the lemon paired with the new asparagus is really good and I look forward to it every spring.

Additions

To add more protein in to your dish, try cottage cheese to keep it vegetarian. Add the cottage cheese towards the end with the tagliatelle and stir. Or you can add shrimp. When adding the shrimp, cook them first in a bit of vegetable oil, not too long to make them rubbery, set them aside, and add them again at the end of the cooking time.

Lemons

When using the skin of the lemon, I prefer to buy organic lemons, and rinse them in cold water before getting my zester out. The downside of using organic lemons is that they do not last as long as regular lemons, so always keep an eye on them and use them before they get moldy. I only buy as many as I need and as close to the cooking date as I can.

Freezable

Unfortunately this recipe is best eaten fresh. It does not freeze very well, which means I never really batch make this recipe. Which now you might think goes against my whole philosophy of what food should be. However, all rules have an exception, and anything with asparagus in the spring is an exception for me.

Substitutes

If you prefer to keep it leaner, substitutes half of the heavy cream for milk or other milk substitute such as oat milk for example.

Print Recipe

Lemon pasta with asparagus

There is nothing that says spring like the sight of locally grown asparagus in the stores. Asparagus season is almost here and this is the perfect spring recipe to use those first asparagus.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time12 minutes mins

Total Time22 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Basics

Keyword: asparagus, lemon, pasta

Servings: 4 portions

Ingredients

• 400 g tagliatelle
• 160 g asparagus
• 50 g butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lemon
• 500 ml heavy cream
• 100 ml Parmesan
• 100 ml pasta water
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

• Cook pasta according to package and save about 100 ml of the pasta water for the sauce later.
• Cut asparagus in smaller pieces (about 3cm long).
• Zest and juice the lemon.
• Steam asparagus pieces for 3 minutes.
• Melt butter and olive oil in large pot.
• Add lemon zest and juice, and heavy cream.
• Let cook together for five minutes.
• In the mean time shred Parmesan cheese, and add to pot. Let the cheese slowly melt while stirring.
• Add pasta water if the sauce seems to thick.
• Taste with salt and pepper.
• Add steamed asparagus and mix with the sauce.
• Add in tagliatelle and stir to make sure the sauce covers all pasta.
• Plate the pasta and serve with a wedge of lemon.

Variations

There are several variations you can make to this by simply substituting the asparagus for other fresh green vegetables, such as green beans, or broccoli stems. The cooking time of the vegetables is almost the same, keep an eye on them as they steam.

Also try some of my other pasta dishes, vegetables pasta with cottage cheese and one-pot creamy sun dried tomato pasta.