Orecchiette with Asparagus

Asparagus are vegetable typical of the spring and summer period in particular from April to June, they are vegetables ideal for the preparation of any kind of Italian recipes. Typically they are used to prepare risotto but very good are also first courses with pasta like the Italian recipes presented below or also second courses and appetizers. Here I prepare a first course made with fresh orecchiette, that is a typical type of pasta from Puglia, seasoned with a sauce of asparagus, cream and walnuts. The preparation of this recipe is simple and fast because the asparagus are an Italian food that need a short time of cooking, indeed only 10 minutes are sufficient in order to make a puree of asparagus, then to obtain the delicious sauce of this recipe it’s sufficient to add some cream and walnuts and so the seasoning is ready. The presence of walnuts give to the sauce a crunch consistency that is well matches with the soft consistency of the puree of asparagus.


INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
400 of Orecchiette
400 g of Asparagus
30 g of Walnuts crumbled
250 ml of Cream
1 Clove of garlic
Salt
Black Pepper
Marjoram
4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Friuli Annia Pinot bianco (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Let salted water boil for orecchiette. Wash the asparagus and remove the hardest and woody part of the asparagus’s stem. Now preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan with the clove of garlic and let it brown, in the meantime cut the stems of the asparagus in small discs maintaining the tender head entire



and add them to the pan, add 1 glass of water and let them cook for about 10 minutes.





When the asparagus are cooked, remove from them the best head, that you'll use for the decoration of the dish and place the others in a mixer in order to obtain a sort of puree of asparagus. Re-place the mousse of asparagus in the same pan, add the walnuts, the cream



and sprinkle with salt, black pepper and marjoram,



mix all together and the sauce is ready. When water boils add the orecchiette and cooked them for the time indicated on the packaging, when they are cooked, drain them and add them to the sauce, mix, garnish each dish with the the entire head of the asparagus and serve hot.
This is the result:



BUON APPETITO!

Orecchiette with Turnip Tops

Orecchiette are typical Italian pasta, ideal for many Italian recipes. They are the symbol of Puglia, where they are strictly kneaded by hand. Orecchiette are round and concave, and this shape is perfect to pick up the sauce. The typical Apulian recipe is orecchiette with turnip tops, but you can prepare many other delicious Italian recipes such as orecchiette with tomatoes or orecchiette with potatoes and rocket. The following recipe shows how to prepare this kind of pasta with your hands: trust me it's simple!

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people)
400 g of Flour of durum wheat
100 ml of Warm water
Salt
500 g of Turnip tops
2-3 Cloves of garlic
1 / 2 Glass of Extra virgin olive oil

PREPARATION TIME: 3 hours

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

WINE: Rosato di Puglia

PREPARATION
On a surface place the flour as a fountain, sprinkle with salt and add the water in the middle.

Knead for about 10 minutes until you obtain a solid dough and stand it for about 30 minutes.

Then make pieces of the dough and knead them until you obtain loafs thin and longs.

Cut the loafs into small squared pieces. Now take the squared pieces one by one and with the thumb crush them making a sort of diskette; then invert the little shape by turning it inside out. This gives the right shape to the dough.

Stand them for 1-2 hours. Clean the turnip tops and cut off the sticks.

In a large pan heat the extra virgin olive oil, put the clove of garlic and let it brown. Let salted water boil for Orecchiette. When water boil, add the turnip tops, after 5 minutes add the orecchiette and let them cook until they rise to the surface: this will take from 5 to 10 minutes so taste one of them to make certain that pasta is ready.

Drain the orecchiette and the turnip tops. Now place the orecchiette and the turnip tops in the pan with extra virgin olive oil and garlic and sautè them for 2-3 minutes.

Serve hot. This is the result:

BUON APPETTITO!