Pasta with a sauce from the garden
The garden is such a fantastic inspiration, summer or winter, hot or cold, I wonder why we bother with recipes. Kick the mint and the air is filled with mint sauce, and roast lamb is a natural to follow. Rush into the kitchen and cook it.
Fondle the rosemary and all those delicious oils are released: aaah, can’t you just imagine a little fish, or vegetables, with a thickly flavoured rosemary cream sauce? Or a little tomato and soy, given guts with rosemary. Or sage, flavouring the stuffing of roasted veal. How about thyme with duck livers? Oh, and peppermint ice cream: is there any better with chocolate?
There’s more to this. Tarragon can turn a tired old chook into a thing of beauty, and there is never ultimate cooking happiness until it’s late summer and you can afford to throw basil left, right and centre. And it’s not always the obvious or the most fragrant of herbs that will do the trick – I always have to go out and buy large leeks for stocks and the like, as we always pick ours from the garden when young and juicy, to eat like chives; and beans, with their flowers still attached, and tiny zucchini. It’s not very much fun being a vegetable in our garden.
You want just a little pasta with this dish. It is not a dish of pasta with a few vegetables tossed about, it is a tiny entree/appetiser based on fresh, vigorous vegetables, supported by pasta. It’s the sort of dish the best restaurants will give you. Pasta like this should be a ‘kiss ‘em lightly’ triumph. Too many cooks drown pasta, and risotto too, in rich sauces. Don’t do it. Touch the pasta, touch the grains. Kiss ‘em lightly.
½ dozen spears of asparagus – Use only the tender spears and keep the stems for tomorrow.
½ dozen leeks, as thin as you can find them – Cut three-quarters into bite-size pieces, the rest chop finely. If you’re buying for this, 1 thick leek, sliced into julienne shapes will do the job.
a little silver beet – stalks to be cooked first, then greens – Spinach is fine, but silver beet has something extra going for it. Guts, I think it’s called. And it’s usually much cheaper.
½ clove garlic
100 ml cream
couple of sprigs of rosemary
salt
black pepper
handful of fresh tagliatelle per person
50 g butter
some chives, chopped
Parmesan for grating
1
Steam the asparagus, leek pieces and silver beet until just done — 6–8 minutes. I prefer the asparagus to be tender to the knife, but less than crisp. Refresh under cold water, drain, and set aside.
2
Steam the silver beet greens, and allow to cool. Squeeze out any excess moisture. Chop roughly and toss in with the other vegetables.
3
Soften the chopped leeks and the garlic in a little olive oil, on a gentle heat. Add the cream and bring to the boil gently, adding the rosemary when the cream is just warm. With a wooden spoon, work the rosemary about the pan until the cream bubbles and thickens. Season with salt and plenty of black pepper to taste. The cream should have a rich flavour of rosemary. Cover and keep warm off the heat, leaving the rosemary in the cream. The leeks will have softened, but still have crunch.
4
Cook the pasta until just done.
5
While the pasta is cooking, reheat the asparagus, leeks and silver beet gently in the cream. Gently, gently, whisk in the butter as you go. The idea is to re-heat slowly, allowing the juice from the vegetables to assist the sauce, not for the sauce to bubble into oblivion. Remember, a gentle dish, a tiny dish.
6
Add the hot pasta and mix through the vegetables. Serve in the middle of the plates, with the sauce just holding onto the strands of pasta and vegetables, and a little running through onto the plate. Sprinkle some chives over the top. Have some black pepper and a little thickly grated Parmesan on the side. Add plenty if you like it. I do.
WINE: This is a delicate dish. I would see it sitting nicely as an early lunch on a Sunday with a good bottle of bubbly — French or Australian. Of the Australian methode champenoise I like Croser, Yellowglen Vintage, Domain Chandon or Seppelt Vintage Brut.