Spaghetti con Seppie e Asparagelle
Speaking of asparagus, wild asparagus is popping up everywhere and though I wasn’t sure what to do with it when I first found it, my veggie guy suggested a spaghettata, which is enticing just in the name. Taking his suggestion, I perused my Italian cookbooks and found this wonderful recipe for spaghetti with wild asparagus and seppioline. I can usually count on my Slow Food Puglia cookbook to make a good suggestion for all of the obscure local vegetables that I find at this time of year. I think that this recipe would work with any thin asparagus and calamari or even clams, the flavors balancing each other out beautifully.
Spaghetti con Seppie e Asparagelle
translated from Ricette di osterie della Puglia. Mare, erbe e fornelli Slow Food Editor
- 320g (scant pound) spaghetti
- 300g (1/2 pound) early spring asparagus or wild asparagus
- 2 mature tomatoes (remove skins and seeds, easy to do by blanching in boiling water and transferring to an ice bowl), cut into slivers
- 1 clove of garlic
- 4 small seppie (cuttlefish), cleaned
- 60g extra-virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Fill a large pot with water for the pasta. Bring to a boil over high heat.
Clean the seppie and cut them into strips. Clean the asparagus, snapping off the woody ends and snap them into 1-inch pieces.
Heat oil in a wide saucepan over medium-high heat and add the garlic and the seppie and cook for a few minutes. Add the asparagus and the tomato, salt and pepper to taste and cook for another couple of minutes.
Once the water starts to boil for the pasta add a small handful of salt to the water and bring to a rolling boil. Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente.
When the spaghetti is perfectly al dente, reserve a cup of the pasta water in case the spaghetti dries out when tossing it. Without shaking all of the water out of the colander pour the spaghetti into the pan and toss it over the flame with the sauce. This allows for the pasta to cook a little longer in the sauce and to absorb the flavor. Serve immediately.
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