Ah, asparagus season – it’s nearly over! Good thing is that this means it is ‘officially’ summer, although summer seems to have avoided Berlin at the moment!
This weekend I am making the most of the last of asparagus season. I was in Florence last weekend and it was good to see the local Italian markets also selling loads of green asparagus.
This chorizo and asparagus carbonara is easy to make and a real weekend treat!
Ingredients: serves 2
Penne pasta (to serve two)
1 pack chorizo (diced into chunks)
500g green asparagus (washed and ends trimmed)
2 eggs
fresh basil
2 tbpsn grated parmesan cheese
ground black pepper/ salt
2 or 3 small shallots (finely chopped)
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
juice of half a lemon
olive oil
- Heat 1 tbspn olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the onions and garlic and cook on a low heat for around 4 minutes.
- Put the pasta onto boil with a pinch of salt. Add the asparagus into a separate pan of boiling water and cook for around 6 minutes.
- Add the chopped chorizo to the pan with the onions. Leave to cook on a medium heat.
- Drain the asparagus, roughly chop and add to the pan with the chorizo.
- Drain the pasta and reserve about 100ml of the water it was cooking in. Beat 2 eggs in a small jug and then add the water and lemon juice. Whisk in the parmesan so that the mixture is smooth.
- Add the drained pasta to the pan with the chorizo and asparagus and then pour in the egg mixture. Turn the pan up to a high heat and keep stirring for around 2 minutes.
- Take the pan off the heat and stir in some fresh basil and ground black pepper.
- Garnish with more fresh basil if needed.
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