Pasta | Elizabeth Cooks

I first had this dish when my husband and I went to Eataly in Los Angeles. The first entreé was way too salty, so even though I never do this, I alerted the wait staff to bring something else (the waiter confided in me that they have a new chef and a lot of food was salty). So I chose this, and loved it.

We saw it in Trader Joe’s in the frozen food aisle and that was delicious, too. Then pandemic-supply-side problems hit, and we couldn’t get it. So I found three recipes, combined and came up with this. Enjoy!

Cacio e Pepe | 2-4 servings

Ingredients

Kosher salt
8 ounces dry pasta–we used Linguine Fini, from Barilla
3 Tbs. butter
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4- 1 cup of Pecino Romano or other hard cheese

Bring 2 quarts water to boil in a pot; add salt, then bend in your pasta. Cook, stirring occasionally, until it’s about two minutes before it’s tender. Drain, reserving 1 cup water (I saved about 1 1/2cups).
In the meantime, in a large skillet or cookware, melt 2 Tbls. butter over medium heat. Add pepper and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula until toasted, about 1 minute.
Add 1/2 cup of pasta water to the skillet and bring to a simmer. Add pasta to the skillet and using tongs, swirl the pasta mixture together. Add more pasta water if it looks dry.
Grate the cheese finely, and add to pasta mixture a handful at a time, stirring with a set of tongs so you can lift the pasta to help it incorporate the ingredients. Add about 1/4 cup more pasta water. Cook and swirl it with tongs until cheese melts, sauce coats the pasta and the pasta is al dente. (Again, if it looks dry, add more pasta water, about 2-3 Tablespoons at a time.)

This is the process photo of what it looks like in the pan.

Even though I call this Summer Pasta Salad, asparagus is typically a spring vegetable. But I always make some version of this just as the heat begins to creep into our days, as it’s easy and delicious. Add some bread, and bowl of fruit for dessert and dinner’s done.

Ingredients
1 lb. package of high quality cheese-filled tortellini
about 8 ounces of golden cherry tomatoes (2-3 handfuls)
about 8 ounces of sweet red pearl-like tomatoes
bunch of asparagus, about 15 spears
pitted black Greek olives, about 10 very large ones, or 20 medium
extra-virgin olive oil
good quality balsamic vinegar
red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
a light shake of cayenne pepper

Method
Toss the tomatoes with some olive oil and some salt and pepper, then spread out on a rimmed cookie sheet and bake at 425F for 15 minutes. The tomatoes should still have their shape but be a little wobbly-looking. Set aside to cool.

Wash, then prepare asparagus by snapping off the ends. Hold your fingers at the end of the spear, letting it snap off where it wants to, then cut into 1″ pieces. Cook in a gently simmering pot of salted water for 1 minute, then plunge into an ice-water bath to stop the cooking. They should have some chewiness to them, but not crunchiness. I always test first as some batches can take up to two minutes to be at the right texture. To do that, grab one piece and put it in the ice water bath, then taste.

After each batch, place cooled asparagus to drain in a strainer or colander, then set aside.

Cook the pasta in lightly salted water on a gentle boil until done, but not DEAD-done. You don’t want the pasta to fall apart. Tip into a colander in the sink and rinse with cool water. GENTLY.

In a large bowl, place drained pasta, tomatoes, blanched asparagus, Greek olives. Splash more olive oil on the mix, then some balsamic and some red wine vinegar (about 2-4 Tablespoons combined for the vinegars) then grind on some fresh pepper and salt, then a light sprinkle of cayenne.. Toss gently, then taste. Adjust as needed.

Serves a crowd.