Pasta with asparagus and pecorino 🤩

A seasonal first course, spring, simple and quick to prepare, with the unique and exceptional flavor of asparagus. There are so many variations of "green" recipes in spring: with broad beans, peas, fresh onions, asparagus and so on. This time I propose a first course with asparagus, which reaches full ripeness in this period. Rich in vitamins and minerals, they go very well with the first leaves of fresh basil and the flavor of a little pecorino Romano.

Ingredients

400 gr. Paccheri

1 bunch of asparagus

30 gr. Butter

1 clove garlic

4/5 basil leaves

150 gr. Grated Pecorino cheese

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Instructions

Run the asparagus under cold running water and pat dry with a tea towel. Put the water in a pot, bring to a boil, salt the water and start cooking the paccheri. Check the cooking time on the pasta package. Cut the asparagus tips and set aside. Cut the stems into cubes until they become hard, remove this part (you can use them to make broth for a risotto). Sauté the asparagus, previously cut into cubes, in a pan with 30 gr. Butter, a clove of garlic and a pinch of salt for 4/5 minutes.  Remove the garlic and blend the asparagus with 4/5 basil leaves. (hand blender) set aside. Sauté the asparagus tips in a pan with a knob of butter for 4/5 minutes. Let's keep aside. Put the asparagus pesto back in the same pan and add the paccheri. If necessary, add cooking water. Turn off the heat and add the pecorino cheese, stirring. Season with salt. Serve and finish with the asparagus tips, a sprinkling of pecorino cheese and pepper to taste.

Enjoy your meal!