My Birthday Pasta

Monday was my birthday - my thirty-first, which for some reason sounds so much older than thirty - and to celebrate, Andrew made me dinner. I picked out a recipe I'd been wanting to try and that looked like it'd be fairly quick to make. It was wonderful to just sit in the kitchen with a glass of wine and watch Andrew make the meal. The recipe is from Williams Sonoma's Bride and Groom cookbook and it's basically a pasta with peas and asparagus in a light lemony-cream sauce. We threw some crisped proscuitto in it too for a little extra protein and crunch. It was pretty good and did come together very quickly, which makes it a keeper in my book!

Fettucini with Peas and Asparagus

1 bunch asparagus (about 8 spears)

1 Tbsp butter or olive oil

2/3 cup heavy cream

minced zest and juice of 1 or 2 Meyer lemons

salt and pepper

3/4 cup peas

1 lb fettucini (we used rigatoni because that's what we had on hand)

fresh basil

shaved parmesan cheese

To prepare the asparagus, snap off the tough woody ends of the spears. Cut the asparagus on the diagonal into pieces about 1/8-inch thick. In a small saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add asparagus and saute for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, add the cream, and heat until warm. Add lemon zest, salt and pepper to taste. Do not allow the mixture to boil.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the peas and cook for 30 seconds. Add the pasta and cook until the pasta is tender. Stir occasionally so that the noodles cook evenly. Drain the pasta and peas, reserving a few tablespoons of the cooking water.

Return pasta and peas to the pot and season with salt. Pour the asparagus-cream mixture over the pasta and toss to coat thoroughly. Add the reserved pasta water as needed to loosen the sauce. Tear some of the basil leaves into pieces and add along with lemon juice to taste and additional salt to taste. Garnish with cheese.