Description
This pasta dish is perfect for Spring with a buttery cream sauce, asparagus, peas, pine nuts, fresh lemon juice and homemade breadcrumbs.
Ingredients
Scale
- 4 cups dry pasta (I used cavatappi)
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed but mostly intact
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
- 1 bunch asparagus (about 20 stems), woody stem (bottom 2 inches) trimmed off and cut into 2 inch pieces
- 1/2 cups peas
- 2–3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (homemade or Panko is an okay substitute)
- *To toast pine nuts, place them in a dry pan over medium heat until they are just turning golden brown. Stir occasionally as you toast them.
Instructions
- Cook pasta, in salted water, according to directions.
Brown Butter Garlic Cream Sauce
- In a small saucepan melt the butter over medium high heat. Stirring frequently, let it get bubbly, then foamy. When you can smell the nuttiness developing (usually about 3-5 minutes), and see small brown flecks on the bottom of the pan, turn off the heat and pour the browned butter into a medium bowl to stop the cooking process.
- Whisk in the heavy cream, and add the smashed garlic cloves to let the flavor infuse the cream and browned butter. Set aside.
Vegetables
- Steam or boil your asparagus until it is just tender (3-5 minutes depending on the thickness). I add the peas to the steaming basket just before the asparagus is done to warm them up. Set aside.
Homemade Breadcrumbs
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. In a blender or food processor, pulse a 3 inch slice of crusty bread, or a roll, until you have coarse crumbs. Lay them out in a thin layer on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes, or until they are dry. Set aside.
- When your pasta is ready, remove the garlic from the brown butter cream sauce and discard. Wisk again if it is trying to separate, and then pour the cream sauce over the pasta. Add your asparagus, peas, and pine nuts.
- Squeeze your lemon over the pasta and sprinkle with lemon zest. Stir to combine. Taste the pasta and add more lemon juice / zest as desired.
- Dish out the pasta with asparagus and peas into your individual bowls and top with breadcrumbs. Serve with an additional lemon wedge if desired. Tastes wonderful served warm or at room temperature.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Serving
- Calories: 653
- Sugar: 6.5g
- Sodium: 257mg
- Fat: 42g
- Saturated Fat: 19g
- Unsaturated Fat: 18.6g
- Trans Fat: 1.1g
- Carbohydrates: 59g
- Fiber: 6.1g
- Protein: 15g
- Cholesterol: 79mg