As we turn our attention to the warmer months, it’s time to make room for lighter pasta dishes. Familiar favorites are cool angel hair with pesto or cold Italian-dressing fusilli as a picnic side. These common choices aside, the time is upon is to lighten our pasta load. But this doesn't mean abandoning our favorite shapes. Quite the opposite! Dried pasta that has been opened is only good for one year, so the time to use it is now.
All heavier pasta can be repurposed for spring ingredients. A hearty manicotti with red meat sauce and three-cheeses becomes whipped ricotta with lemon peel, peas, and mint in a parmesan brodo. Egg noodle nests normally reserved for rich wintry chicken soup now fold easily into a light ginger & scallion dashi broth. And the much-coveted bucatini eschews a hearty ragu treatment for grilled ramps with torn herbs in a zingy beurre blanc.
A handy way of thinking about spring pasta is to memorize a short list of lighter ingredients and then mix and match with ease:
Cheeses: whipped ricotta, parmesan brodo, and light feta.
Produce: peas, mint, chives, tarragon, spring onions, ramps, fiddleheads, asparagus, and artichokes.
Sauces: olive oil, citrus, white wine, whole cherry tomatoes, and vegetable broths.
Protein: shellfish, tofu, mushrooms, and shredded chicken
If you are unsure of your flavor combinations, may I suggest the classic book Culinary Artistry by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg. In it, chefs discuss how they select and pair ingredients, and how flavors are combined into dishes, dishes into menus, and menus into bodies of work that eventually comprise their cuisines.
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Bucatini with Grilled Ramps and Torn Herbs with Beurre Blanc
Feeds: 4 people
Prep: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
4T. EVOO
1 pound of ramps cleaned and patted dry
Box of Bucatini
Torn package of tarragon, chives, mint
For Beurre Blanc:
1/4 C. White wine
3 Sticks unsalted butter
1/4 C. Vinegar
1T. Shallot minced
1T. Lemon juice
Pinch of salt
Pinch of white pepper
Directions:
Coat ramps with EVOO and salt and grill at 400. Roughly chop when cooled.
Make the beurre blanc.
Boil pasta in salty water until it is al dente.
Combine ramps, pasta, and beurre blanc to taste…be careful not to over do it. Fold in fresh herbs.
Grind fresh pepper (perhaps some Grana Padano on top) and serve immediately.