I often watch YT Pizzaiolo Luigi, an Italian from Napoli living in Vienna. Most of his recipes are hands on easy to replicate, but I did my own way.
He prepared this green asparagus pasta dish. I went out to a very small Italian market in my former hometowm. The owners are from Sicily, a Mother and son team. The tiny shop has a good section of meat and cheeses, but you need to bring time.
I remembered the video from the day before and bought salsiccia and Gorgonzola and a couple of other goodies.
The green asparagus was from a hut a couple of minutes around the corner.
400 g green asparagus
1 Tropea onion on white onion
4 tbsp olive oil
250 g salsiccia with fennel
75 g Gorgonzola
175 g penne pasta
Salt and pepper
Strip the sausage meat of of the casing. Chop the onion very fine and take the tops of the aspatagus and cut the stems down to the woody part in 1 cm pieces.
The penne needed 14 minutes to al dente. I staeted the water first. Then heated the olive oil in the pan and sauteed the onion. Add the broken up sausage and brown it on all sides. Season it.
Next in with the asparagus tops and a small ladle of pasta water. You will need more the moment the Gorgonzola needs to melt.
The asparagus pieces go in the pasta water the last 5 minutes of cooking time. Then both are drained together and with a little water add to the sauce. Stir well, check seasoning and serve.
Asparagus and Gorgonzola is such a bold combo and you pulled it off so well! I love that you went to a tiny Sicilian family shop for the ingredients instead of just grabbing whatever was at the supermarket. That kind of sourcing makes such a difference in the final dish.
ReplyDeleteThe salsiccia with fennel is a genius addition. The fennel notes must have balanced out the sharpness of the Gorgonzola beautifully. And cooking the asparagus pieces directly in the pasta water is such a smart move for keeping them just tender without going mushy.
Bookmarking this for my next weeknight pasta night. Thank you for sharing!