This recipe is by Arturo Dori, from the May issue of my magazine, This Tuscan Life.

Before all of these lovely vegetables go out of season, I highly recommend you give it a try.  The pasta is added to the saucepan to finish cooking and absorb all of the liquid, in turn giving its starch to give the illusion of added cream.  We used Martelli artisan pasta, naturally from Tuscany!

Before all of these lovely vegetables go out of season, I highly recommend you give it a try.  The pasta is added to the saucepan to finish cooking and absorb all of the liquid, in turn giving its starch to give the illusion of added cream.  We used Martelli artisan pasta, naturally from Tuscany!

Ingredients- serves 4

1 small bunch of fresh Spring Onions

200 gr shelled peas

200 gr Fava beans

1 bunch of asparagus

1 sml bunch of Monk’s Beard (Agretti)

500 gr short pasta such as penne

150 ml full cream milk

extra-virgin olive oil

parmesan cheese

Method

1. Prepare all vegetables – remove course ends from asparagus and peel all stem edges.  Slice the stems keeping the tips whole.

Chop Spring Onions.  Remove white ends & roots from monk’s beard.  Shell peas & fava beans.

2. Individually blanch each of the vegetables using the same salted water ensuring to blanch the fava beans last (so their tannin doesn’t discolour the other vegetables).

3. Once the fava beans have been blanched, remove the outer shell by slicing a small opening and squeezing out the internal bean.

4. Heat oil in a frypan, add onion and after a few mins add the peas, agretti,  fava beans, asparagus stems and finely the asparagus tips.

5. Boil the water for the pasta, add salt and then add the pasta, checking the cooking time.

6. Add the milk to the fry-pan and let simmer while the pasta is cooking.

7. Remove the pasta about 3 minutes before it is ready and add to the pan.  Saute in the liquid until the pasta is cooked.  The liquid will reduce and become denser with the starch from the pasta forming a creamy sauce.

8. Remove from the heat when the pasta is cooked and add the parmesan cheese.  incorporate all ingredients and serve.

9. Eat immediately.

*Chef’s Tip: for a non-vegetarian version, add pancetta to the dish.

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