Roast garlic, miso and asparagus pappardelle with chile and rosemary

Damn. I know I usually start these newsletters with some nonsense about nothing that nobody asked for - thanks for indulging me - but shit, this week I gotta get straight to the point. You have got to make this. Asparagus bring a sweetness to the pasta that works very well together with the caramelized garlic and miso, the rosemary and chile cut through some of the richness to provide bright tones and, well, there’s a lot of parmesan so it’s got that going for it.

For some of you, white asparagus could be a little hard to come by, but the recipe will work beautifully with green ones too. If you really feel like Dora the explorer I think even very thinly sliced cauliflower would be delicious. For those of you in NL, you’re in luck! Out of all of the screamingly mediocre fruit and vegetables that we produce, asparagus actually turn out alright! I guess something about desperately wet soil really gets these boys going.

Ingredients #

Ingredients for 2

• 400gr fresh pappardelle (sure normal people could make like 300gr)
• 1 head of garlic
• 250gr white asparagus
• 1 tablespoon miso (I used white)
• 50gr butter
• 2 sprigs of rosemary
• 1 teaspoon of chili flake
• 50gr Parmigiano Reggiano
• Black pepper
• Salt

Method #

1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Cut the top of your head of garlic to expose the cloves inside, and wrap it in tin foil. Place in the oven to roast and caramelize for about 40 minutes. The rest of this recipe comes together quite quickly so you can wait a little bit before moving on to the next step.

2. Finely chop the needles of the rosemary. Then heat up your favorite pasta making pan over medium high heat and add the butter. Once it stops foaming, add your finely chopped rosemary and chili flakes.

3. While the butter becomes fragrant, cut the woody bottom off your asparagus and peel the outer layer off. With a vegetable peeler, mandolin, or knife when flexing true ninja skills, slice your asparagus in thin ribbons length wise. Add to the buttery pan and reduce the heat to medium. Cover with a lid and gently fry until softened, but not mushy. Never mushy.

4. Bring a pot of salty salty water to a boil and cook your pappardelle according to instructions.

5. Once the garlic is caramelized, take it out of the oven and squeeze the cloves into the jar of an immersion blender and blend it together with the miso and a few splashes of pasta cooking water. If you don’t have a blender, don’t despair, you’ll manage mixing this with a fork too. Once transformed into a smoothish sauce add it to the asparagus.

6. Add your cooked pappardelle to the asparagus together with a good splash of pasta water and a heeeaaaping grating of parmesan cheese. Grate some black pepper over it and taste it for seasoning. Easy peasy garlic squeezy!

Some more vocal members of the fusion police (Hi dad) might be a little worried about adding miso to an otherwise perfectly Italian pasta dish. I promise you, the miso will just bring a very rich umami note to the party that works gorgeously with the roasty toasty flavor of the garlic. If you can’t find miso, or are too stubborn to try it, this will still be a very very delicious dish to make without, so give it a whirl!