Baked Pasta With Asparagus, Lemon, and Mascarpone

Submitted by chia2160

"From the Best of Fine Cooking."

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 18
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 29.58 ml olive oil
• 907.18 g asparagus, cut in 1-inch pieces
• 8 scallions, sliced
• 2 lemons, zested
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 4.92 ml fresh thyme, chopped
• salt, pepper to taste
• 14.79 ml butter
• 14.79 ml flour
• 236.59 ml milk
• 236.59 ml mascarpone cheese
• 236.59 ml parmigiano-reggiano cheese, grated
• 0.61 ml allspice
• 0.61 ml cayenne
• 177.44 ml fresh breadcrumb
• 453.59 g fettuccine pasta
• 118.29 ml pignolis, toasted
• cooking spray

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
2. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
3. Heat a large pot of water to boil.
4. Add asparagus and cook 2 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon and run under cold water to stop cooking process, drain well.
5. Add fettuccine to boiling water and cook until al dente, about 10 minutes.
6. While fettuccine is cooking, heat oil in a skillet, add scallions and saute 1 minute.
7. Add asparagus, saute 1 minute.
8. Remove from heat and add half the zest, lemon juice, thyme, salt, pepper; mix well; set aside.
9. In a saucepan melt butter, add flour and mix well.
10. Whisk in milk and stir until boiling, lower heat and cook until thickened.
11. Remove from heat and stir in mascapone, remaining zest and 1/2 cup parmigiano-reggiano, whisking until smooth.
12. Season with allspice, cayenne, salt and pepper.
13. Mix remaining cheese, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper in a small bowl.

14. For assembly:

15. Drain the cooked fettucine and return to pot.
16. Stir in asparagus mixture, cheese sauce, toasted nuts and mix well.
17. Pour into prepared pan, top with breadcrumb mixture.
18. Bake uncovered 15-20 minutes until bubbling and golden; serve.

Reviews

[addicted2food]

Usually dinner is a joint affair ... but because the Stanley Cup playoffs are on (GO CANUCKS GO) I was on my own. Granted it is a lot of prep but it was Friday night and I got an early start. If you do some of the prep ahead of time things will move a lot faster.<br/>Although it's not a 'low cal' dish it was very "light" in flavor... a nice summer pasta! <br/>I expected to taste the lemon and fresh thyme more than I did so more could be added and it wouldn't overwhelm (and I added a tiny sprinkle of dry thyme too) I was debating whether to make Giada DeLauentis's Creamy Farfelle WIth Cremini, Asparagus and Walnuts or this one but I choose this recipe and threw in the mushrooms. I ended up just pan frying all the veggies in the big LeCrueset and carried on. We thought it was enough sauce but we're ok with pasta dishes that aren't smothered in sauce. Didn't have pinenuts on hand so followed Giada's recipe and used toasted walnuts instead. All in all it was very tasty and great with the Cuma Rose' from Argentina.

 

[adopt a greyhound]

I made as written but used 1 lb. asparagus and serving for two of pasta. This is very rich and could only eat a small amount. We still have lots leftover so will have it for lunch later this week.

 

[CIndytc]

We loved this! I too doubled the sauce after reading the reviews and it was perfect...

 

[Diane C 2]

The recipe definitely needed the Béchamel sauce to be at least doubled and since I didn't plan for that I didn't have enough mascarpone cheese. I still doubled the sauce but the flavor of the cheese was lost. Even doubling the sauce, the pasta was still a little dry. Generally, I still liked the dish but not sure I would make it again.

 

[Annisette]

Oh, MY this was good!! It was a little work-intensive but the results were super! YUMMY!! Made for Family Picks ZWT4 for the CAFE ZMAKK Gypsies!