Penne with Asparagus and Ricotta

A surfeit of meat whilst on holiday in Austria last week and some sunny weather have left me longing for light, summery dishes. Asparagus fits the bill perfectly and is still in season so I decided to try to come up with a pasta dish, rather than the usual asparagus risotto that is frequently seen at this time of year.

There are basically only three ingredients - asparagus, ricotta and a shallot and yet it worked beautifully as a pasta sauce. The delicate flavour of the asparagus wasn't overpowered by the ricotta and the shallot just added a gentle kick. Add a sprinkling of parsley and a generous grating of parmesan and you've got a wonderfully quick, fresh, delicious supper. 

I'm sending this over to Jaqueline's (from Tinned Tomatoes) monthly challenge, Pasta Please, hosted this month by Lucy over at BakingQueen74. 

RECIPE
200g green asparagus
100g ricotta
1 shallot
handful of fresh parsley
4 tablespoons olive oil

300-400g pasta, any shape you want

Wash the asparagus, then cut off the tips and set them aside. Boil the spears in lightly salted water for about 5-7 minutes - they need to be much softer than when eating them on their own as they are going to be blended with the ricotta. 

Place the asparagus spears in a food processor with some salt, pepper, the ricotta and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Blend until smooth.

Blanch the asparagus tips for about 1 minute in boiling water (I usually just throw them into the water I've got boiling for the pasta), then fish them out and leave to drain. 

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water.

In the meantime, finely chop the shallot and cook gently in a frying pan with the rest of the olive oil until softened.

Add the asparagus and ricotta sauce, the blanched asparagus tips and mix everything gently together, leaving on the heat for a few minutes to warm through. Chop the parsley roughly and add it to the sauce. If it looks too thick, add some of the pasta water to thin it slightly. 

When the pasta is al dente, drain and mix everything together well.

Serve with freshly grated parmesan.

Penne with Speck and Leeks

Another very busy period at work has left me little time for blogging but a recent lull has meant I've been able to catch up on some of my favourite blogs and so have found out about all those doing the fantastic Live Below the Line challenge. This asks people from all over the world to join the Global Poverty Project initiative in living on £1 a day for five consecutive days. Vanesther over at Bangers and Mash has successfully completed the challenge and her posts about it certainly make for interesting reading. She has decided to extend the frugal food theme to this month's Family Foodies challenge (which she runs jointly with Louisa from Eat Your Veg), entitled 'Cheap and Cheerful' so I'm sending this pasta dish over as it fits the bill perfectly. It's simple, delicious and has universal appeal which makes it ideal for a family meal. The leeks give a wonderful flavour and although the speck (an Italian smoked prosciutto, sometimes sold in the UK as Black Forest ham) is quite expensive, you only need a couple of slices to ensure that the wonderful smoky flavour of the ham permeates the pasta.

RECIPE- serves 3-4

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 leeks

1 clove garlic

1 tablespoon crème fraîche or sour cream
4 slices Italian speck/Black Forest ham, finely sliced
400g penne or other short pasta

Start by preparing the leeks.  As they can be very dirty, I usually slice them in half length ways and then chop them finely. Put them in a colander and wash thoroughly under running water. Drain well. 

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the leeks and cook gently until softened, being careful not to colour them as leeks can turn very bitter if they start to brown. Add the crushed garlic and continue cooking for a minute or two.

Stir through the crème fraîche. Add salt and black pepper to taste.

In the meantime, cook the pasta in a large pan of salted water, as per packet instructions. Near the end of the cooking, take a ladleful of the pasta cooking water and add to the leeks. When the pasta is al dente, drain well and mix with the leeks.  Add the finely sliced speck (I usually just scissor it in) and mix briefly. If you're not watching the purse strings, serve the pasta with lots of freshly grated parmesan.