Spring has sprung and you can see a bounty of these gorgeous seasonal asparagus everywhere. I have finally learned to use only seasonal vegetables for the maximum flavor & taste. Seasonal fruits & vegetables are also a lot better for us nutritionally and not to mention much easier on the wallet.
Asparagus is one of those vegetables that is best eaten in season otherwise it has a bland taste and an unpleasant stringy & woodsy texture. Asparagus is one of nature’s true food heroes as a source of protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and iron. Asparagus is also packed in the naturally occurring phytochemicals of glutathione, rutin, and folic acid. Asparagus, next to orange juice, is regarded as the second best whole foods source of folic acid
Shades of Green recipe idea was inspired by a sweet sweet friend Nadia Wasti, who happens to be an author/editor of a beautiful food blog called for the love of yum! Check out her blog for mouthwatering recipes! Her wonderful recipe Shades of Green Chopped Salad was one of the best recipes picked by the editors of Food 52 as a runner up in a contest. She has always been an inspiration to me and I have learned so much about food blogging from her. She has always been gracious in giving me advice, she’s a beautiful human being inside & out. Nadia was one of the first food bloggers I met when I started my blog back in February 2010. She made me feel welcomed in the blogging world and was always there to answer any of my newly blogger questions. I’m most thankful to her kindness and cherish her friendship.
Ever since I started my blog I have met so many talented & friendly bloggers who have been an ultimate inspiration to me and I truly love our blogging community!
I couldn’t resist buying the gorgeous asparagus in the markets right now and started planning how I was going to use it. The vibrant green color reminded me of Nadia’s recipe title, “Shades of Green”, that gave me the idea of using all green vegetables in this recipe. I also chose to add baby arugula and chopped roasted pistachios to this recipe just because they are one of my favorite ingredients. I knew I wanted to make a pasta dish with these fresh green ingredients, so I decided to make a homemade tagliatelle. I absolutely adore making homemade pasta, there’s something organic about it which gives me so much pleasure & joy!
Tagliatelle is an egg based pasta which only has four ingredients mainly consisting of eggs, flour, olive oil & salt. I find the eggs gives the pasta a richer flavor & texture and makes it easy to work with the dough. I love using my hand-crank pasta maker which I bought when I was in my 20′s and is still working great and cranking out gorgeous pasta.
For this pasta recipe I experimented with organic whole wheat flour but I quickly discovered that in order to make the dough elastic enough to roll out, it needed a higher gluten content than whole grain flours provide. So to add the gluten in the pasta I used organic unbleached all-purpose flour to the recipe. I also noticed that there were different sauces that work well with whole wheat egg pasta, these sauces tend to be more vegetable based. I would highly encourage you to make pasta at home, it is truly a gratifying experience, I even get my two boys and hubby to help out and they love it. Buon appetito!
Recipe for Homemade Tagliatelle
Serves 4 – 6
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups organic unbleached all-purpose flour
2/3 cup organic whole wheat flour
3 eggs
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
extra all-purpose flour for dusting
{You can certainly substitute ready made store bought tagliatelle instead of homemade pasta}
Method:
- Add the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, eggs, extra virgin olive oil, and salt to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse several times until the dough resembles crumbs.
- Turn out the dough onto a clean, dry, rice flour-dusted work surface.
- Gather the dough and knead it until comes together and a smooth, elastic dough is achieved.
- Cover the dough with a kitchen towel or saran wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes.
- Cut the dough in 4 even pieces and place them through the pasta machine.
- Follow your particular pasta machine directions.
- You can cut the pasta in any shape that you desire. Remember to dust the pasta with flour lightly so it doesn’t stick and dust it off before boiling.
- Boil the pasta for 2-3 minutes in well salted water & drain. {I also add a little olive oil to my pasta water while boiling the pasta}
Recipe for the Asparagus, Arugala, and Pistachios
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
1 bunch of asparagus, cut up
2 cups of baby arugula
1/2 cup pistachios, coarsely chopped {extra for garnish}
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup Parmigiano cheese, grated
Method:
- Heat extra virgin olive oil in a large pan. Saute onions until translucent.
- Saute the crushed garlic for a minute or so.
- Add the asparagus and saute for 3 minutes.
- Add the baby arugula, saute for a minute
- Add pistachios, saute for a minute and turn off the heat
- Toss the Tagliatelle and the vegetables together.
- Serve & garnish with cheese and pistachios.
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
I love fresh pasta. I know I should get the pasta attachment soon! And I absolutely adore asparagus. This looks perfect in every sense!
thank u Ambika, I would highly encourage you try making pasta at home!
I am going to make the husband read this post, may be then, he will start eating asparagus! He will make such a 14 year old baby face as soon as I buy some of these. These days, I only make it for me. Pasta, however is our fav and I am so tempted to buy a pasta making machine… if only my kitchen was a little bigger and had a little more counter space
aww..keep trying Kankana..hopefully one day he will love this delicious vegetable!
This is gorgeous Sara – love everything about it – the homemade pasta, the fresh spring asparagus, the seasonality of the whole dish is perfect!
Thank you Debra! I enjoyed making this dish!
I LOVE asparagus! I can’t wait to make this – thanks for your post! I also appreciated your nutritional info, too. I need to eat more in-season, myself!
you are welcome Cindy and thank you for visiting!
Love Asparagus & your homemade pasta looks SUPERB! Your Photographs are Awesome!!!
Awwww it’s so sweet that you mentioned me in your blog post. You are also one of my closest blogging friends. Every time I visit your blog I am inspired by your dishes and have even made a few of them at home and they always turn out super yummy! Hopefully, we will get to meet up soon! Thanks so much for your kind words I’m really touched by them. You are a gem of a person.
Your dish is gorgeous! Perfect for the nice weather that is heading our way. AND who doesn’t love a nice big bowl of pasta?!
xoxo
Gorgeous and delizioso, Sara! One of my favorite pastas and I would love a bowl right now as an early lunch:)Your pasta is delicate and the asparagus looks wonderful!xx
Sara, super impressive making pasta from scratch. I would love to do it on a regular basis when I make pasta at home. Just th enotion is so romantic. This dish screams spring & I absolutely love it!
This looks amazing and stunning! I want to come make pasta with you! Great combination of flavors and ingredients
Lovely dish. Reminds me that I really need to pick up some asparagus and make more than salads with it! The flavors you incorporated in this dish are all on the top of my favorites list
This looks incredible, Sara! You are a rockstar for making your own pasta.
Nadia, you are Gem! xoxo
Thank you Lora, Shulie, Alison, Lynn, and Faith!
A beautiful dish! perfect with fresh tagliatelle. So mouthwatering.
heers,
Rosa
What a treat! I think I shall give my arugula a little haircut this weekend! A few of my favorites in one dish! Hopefully I get a pasta attachment for my KA…
Looks like the asparagus bug has bit you too.
Can never get too much while it’s in season!
Your pasta dish is stunning and I am printing the recipe right now.
It is so true about using what is in season and available locally. I also agree with you about fresh pasta. It is a bit messy in the kitchen, but very easy to make and so worth the time. There is nothing better than everything from scratch. Looking forward to meeting you next month! xoxo
This recipe looks amazing, Sara! And so simple too =)
The only glitch is, I don’t have a pasta machine, and I don’t want to invest in one. Does it come out as good by hand?
Sherya, you can certainly shape the pasta with hand, knife or a pizza cutter in straight lines..or which ever shape your prefer…try it!
Sara, this dish looks so delicious! What a wonderful way to use asparagus, which is one of my favorite pieces of spring produce. Thank you for sharing! Your photos are just lovely, too.
Sara, there is so much beauty to gaze upon in this post. I must dive deeper into that pottery website, that blue bowl is so pretty! This homemade pasta looks great, I too am a big fan of in season asparagus
thank u for your sweet comments Marla & Georgia!
What a beautiful recipe, captured with such appreciation for the bright light and colors of spring. We are moving steadily into winter here – with several dreary days in a row as proof – so I was brought back to life by your gorgeous images.
Such an amazing post! Such a delight to read ….and such lovely pictures….I have always wanted to make pasta …but never had the courage to! Printing your recipe now…..your photographs are lovely and so is your writing ! I can just ogle at the pictures on your blog for hours!
Thank- you …you are doing some great work here!
)
I really need to make fresh pasta more often if for anthing because it is fun to make (we have a wonderful Italian shop that sells fresh pasta so we usually buy it) and I am waiting impatiently for slender, tender green asparagus to arrive on our markets. Paired with arugula, my favorite, and pistachios is so wonderful! Flavorful, simple, healthy and elegant! I love this dish, Sara.
oh Sarah this such a lovely recipe. I wish I could trade some homemade Tagliatelle from you
Thank you Jamie, Kulsum, Yasmeen, & Aditi
What can be better than hand-made pasta and several shades of green? My girls and I can live on pasta and these days meat is an afterthought:)
I am still in awe at how many friends I made through my blog! It makes me giddy just thinking of it:)
Love those thin and delicate stripes of pasta coming thru the machine! Wonderful recipe, light and healthy.
I’m always so impressed with homemade pasta, I’m sure the taste is incomparable!
I actually make my pasta dough in my food processor – the first time I tried to make it on my counter the eggs ran off the edge! Looks delicious.
I was searching for a recipe for tagliatelle and found this. I love your recipe!
I’ve always wanted to make my own pasta, but it seems like a lot of work, and I barely have time to cook. But it definitely looks worth the effort!
Beautiful post! What an incredible recipe, I will certainly be making this! Thank you for the pottery shout out! I love being able to track incoming visitors to my shop from your blog! What a treat for me! Thanks again Sara!
That looks delicious! so many spectacular recipes….and look at Sara she doesn’t look too bad either, she is gogeous AND amazing! Maybe one day I can get her to cook fresh tagliatelle for me….
Fabulous site Sara, keep up the great work!
Podnyc
Hi Sara, I’m Sonia, italian food blogger sorry for my bad english, I want tell you that I have included the link of this recipe (which I liked very much) in the section on my blog dedicated to “10 ways to make” (“10 Modi di Fare”) tagliatelle. I hope not to bother you, have a nice day
Sonia