Every week -- often with your help -- Food52's Senior Editor Kristen Miglore is unearthing recipes that are nothing short of genius.
Today: A mashup of all the best pasta sauces -- tomato, asparagus, and carbonara -- with surprisingly harmonious results.
Despite (or maybe because of) a sluggish spring, you've probably already been hitting the asparagus pretty hard -- blanching and feathering it, slipping it into your pasta under pools of ricotta.
But have you had it with tomatoes?
Doubtful, because that would be goofy. Tomatoes are born in August, asparagus in May. Their biological clocks weren't designed to go together.
More: How to Prep Asparagus
But Craig Claiborne was too clever a cook to follow the easy paint-by-season path to recipe development, matching peas with asparagus and tomatoes with sweet corn. He knew how to clash, gracefully.
Thankfully, we've learned to salvage tomatoes from late summer and give them eternal life in cans. And while they'd be of no use in a caprese, they have every right to be in sauce all year long.
Even with asparagus! Its grassy pop is surprisingly at home in a bed of sweet-sour tomato sauce, mellowed with a last-minute addition of beaten eggs, à la carbonara.
Oh, you haven't done that either? Beaten raw eggs into your tomato asparagus sauce? Well, it's about time. (Claiborne was doing it in 1979 -- we're behind!) A little egg pulls the sauce together, glossing it up without muffling it like heavy cream would do.
Maybe the most genius part: As Food52er monkeymom pointed out when she sent me this recipe, this is essentially a highly adaptable pantry pasta supper, with addition of fresh asparagus (which is sort of a staple this time of year anyway).
But by rearranging your pantry staples just so, dinner turns out elegant and new. So go on: break free of the season. Clash a little.
Craig Claiborne's Pasta con Asparagi
Adapted slightly from The New New York Times Cookbook (Crown, 1979)
Serves 8
1 1/2 pound fresh asparagus
3 tablespoons butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2 cups canned Italian plum tomatoes, put through a sieve or grated coarsely
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil
3/4 pounds penne, rigatoni, or other tubular pasta
2 eggs, plus one yolk, beaten well with a fork
1/2 cup grated parmesan
See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.
Got a genius recipe to share -- from a classic cookbook, an online source, or anywhere, really? Please send it my way (and tell me what's so smart about it) at [email protected].
Photos by James Ransom
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Written by: Kristen Miglore
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28 Comments
I wonder if anybody else feel this way?
1) I'll be the addition of a small amount of crisped pancetta or crisped prosciutto would just knock this out of the park.
2) I'm a bit curious about the quantities. This is labelled as a recipe for 8 but it only uses 3/4 lb (340 g) of pasta, which is what I'd use for four servings. On the other hand, there's a lot of asparagus in there, so if you think of this as an asparagus dish that has some pasta in it (as opposed to a pasta dish that has some asparagus in it), it might make sense. In my case I'm making it for four, so I will cut everything in half except the pasta, for which I'll probably use 300 g.
Regarding the crisped pancetta/prosciutto, I'm not so sure now, as the recipe was spectacular on its own. If I were to add some, it would be a small amount sprinkled on at the end like a garnish.
See what other Food52 readers are saying.