asparagus green bean carbonara pasta
We grabbed the USA La Cucina Italiana 2012 annual pasta issue
(featuring Fresh Pasta!) immediately, even though we have been very good at controlling our food mag acquisition habit these past years. Wow, so many great ideas. We settled on this one to use with fresh whole wheat pasta that we had to cut as fettuccine since Kitchen-Aid has decided that Americans only need lasagna, fettuccine and spaghetti choices in their 3 piece pasta roller attachment set. Really fresh pasta is easy and quick and much more nutritious if you go the whole wheat route. We did 1.5 lbs pasta for 9 people and added one whole egg to the recipe.
Instead of the normal green beans we went with the frozen french cut variety, much more delicate, and we picked up some of the thinnest asparagus we have ever seen, cut off the ends and slit them lengthwise about halfway up the stalk. The asparagus went into the salted boiling water first because the french cut green beans were quicker to cook. We used our Asian noodle sieve (what is that called exactly) to pluck out the asparagus, then did the beans, then plucked them out, then after a bit when the sauce was ready (I forgot to pick up shallots, so we used a small onion), we repeated with the pasta noodles. We cut off the tip end thirds of the asparagus and pulled on the remaining split ends to separate into halves after cooling them down in cold water.
My mother-in-law said we should have put in the whole pound of frozen string beans (we used one whole bunch of asparagus) instead of only half, for more color and taste. Next time.
The verdict: this one is a keeper!
ingredients
La Cucina version |
|
our modfications |
fine sea salt |
|
big salt for the pasta water, but yeah, fine sea salt |
1/2 lb green beans, trimmed |
|
1/2 -1 lb french cut (style?) green beans |
10 medium asparagus spears, trimmed |
|
1 whole bunch of super thin asparagus, trimmed |
4 T butter |
|
ok |
1/3 c plus 1 T pine nuts |
|
1/2 c pine nuts |
1/3 c finely chopped shallot |
|
ok, but we forgot so used 1 small onion, finely chopped |
3/4 c freshly grated parmigiano (or Grana Padano)
plus more for serving |
|
3/4 - 1 c freshly grated parmigiano
plus more for serving |
1 large egg plus 3 large egg yolks |
|
2 large egg plus 3 large egg yolks |
2 T finely chopped flat-leaf parsley |
|
ok |
freshly ground black pepper to taste (be generous) |
|
ok |
1 lb fresh (or dried) maccheroni alla chitarra
(available at some supermarkets and specialty
stores) |
|
1.5 lbs fresh whole wheat pasta |
instructions
- Start with the asparagus prep. Try to find the narrrowest possible spears.
If you can, cut off the tough ends, then cut in half crosswise (cut along
the long direction) halfway up the stalk, roughly. If not, quarter the
larger ones (they say cut in half, but narrower strips work better here)
crosswise, then quarter lengthwise. After cooking, cut the tip third off
narrow spears and pull on the two halves of the rest until they separate.
- If you use fresh beans, prep them. Go with the frozen french cut if you
want a more delicate dish.
- Prepare your shallots (or onion). We use our trusty cheap veggie dicer
purchased on the streets of Munich in our second year abroad in 1980-81.
- Toast your pine nuts in a nonstick pan briefly if you want to bring out
their flavor. Ms ani is big on toasting nuts. This is optional.
- Grate your cheese.
- Separate your egg yolks and combine with the whole eggs, whisking
together with the cheese, parsley and pepper. Set aside.
- Meanwhile you should have started the abundant pasta water boiling, salt
it with big salt, I just toss some in, I never learned how to regulate this
quantity.
- Cook the green beans first if you follow their approach, but the
asparagus first if you do our variation. Then remove with a large fine mesh
sieve.
- Repeat with the asparagus if you are following their recipe, the french
cut green beans in our variation.
- Next melt the butter in a large nonstick chef's pan or equivalent and
saute your shallots (onion) and pine nuts with 1/4 t salt briefly until the
former are softened, then add in the veggies, combine nicely and then remove
from the heat.
- Cook the pasta al dente in the already boiling water.
- Drain and combine with the veggie mixture and mix well, then combine
with the egg-cheese mixture.
- Serve immediately with extra freshly grated cheese at the table.
notes
-
La Cucina Italiana (USA)
maccheroni alla chitarra vegetable carbonara.
(alla "carbonara di verdura), October, 2012 annual pasta issue: fresh pasta!
pp.82-83. We were the first to comment on the recipe online, after realizing
that we were only registered at the Italian magazine site, so we did a free
registration at the USA mag site.
-
KitchenAid 3 piece pasta roller attachment set. If you look hard, it
seems they have a 5 piece set with angel hair and "thick noodle" cutter
rollers. Will have to see if we can score the latter on e-Bay.
-
We've been trying to stick with whole grain
pasta this century. Some fine products are available in the dry pasta
line, and increasingly in the fresh pasta available in supermarkets.
-
Illustrations available.