Pasta With Asparagus, Arugula and Ricotta
- Total Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:Serves four
- ¾pound thin asparagus, woody ends snapped off, cut into 1-inch lengths
- Salt
- ¾pound penne, fusilli or other shaped pasta
- ½cup fresh ricotta
- 2tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- A generous handful of baby arugula or wild arugula leaves, rinsed and spun dry (about 1 ounce, or 1 cup tightly packed)
- Freshly ground pepper
- ⅓cup freshly grated Parmesan
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
497 calories; 15 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 69 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 21 grams protein; 515 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and add a generous amount of salt. Add the asparagus. Cook pencil-thin asparagus for two minutes, three to four minutes if stems are medium-thick. Transfer to a bowl of ice-cold water. Drain and set aside.
- Step 2
Place the ricotta in a large pasta bowl.
- Step 3
Bring the water back to a boil, and add the pasta. Cook al dente, following the directions for timing on the package but checking a minute before the suggested cooking time. Stir ⅓ cup of the pasta cooking water into the ricotta. Drain the pasta and toss at once with the olive oil and ricotta, the arugula, asparagus and Parmesan. Serve hot.
Tip
- Advance preparation: Have everything prepped and ready to go hours ahead of time, then throw together this pasta at the last minute.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Laurie
Very good, but sauce needed more contrast - acid (lemon juice) and herbs (herbs de Provence) worked.
Jackie
My asparagus was a little thicker, so I sautéed in garlic, olive oil, and a little white wine....added some peas....gave it the kick it needed.
Joe
My Italian grandmother used nutmeg, rather than cinnamon. Either way, it's a great addition. I agree a good dose of black pepper is in order. Excellent spring recipe
Riv
Upgrade: roast the asparagus in a hot oven with sliced lemon, salt pepper and olive oil.
Sara
Smitten Kitchen has an almost-identical recipe that uses goat cheese and tarragon instead of ricotta and arugula. I've never added the tarragon and don't miss it - there's lots of olive oil, lemon zest and juice, and black pepper to give it the kick it needs. Great one-pot one-bowl recipe (add the asparagus to the pasta for the last 1-2 minutes of cooking).
aurora
Just sautéed garlic in the olive oil and let it cool before mixing everything together and this recipe was amazing!!
Franco
A very good, fresh tasting and simple dish. Definitely prep ahead all ingredients. Made some additions to the items tossed together: 1) 2-3 strips of bacon (or prosciutto), sliced 1/4 inch, and cooked until crisp and 2) zest of 1 lemon. No garlic needed.
Annemarie
Very nice base recipe but lacking something. I added lemon juice as suggested, and then remembered my Italian grandmother used cinnamon with her ricotta and pasta. I added about a tablespoon of cinnamon and lots black pepper. Made the dish go from good to great!
Emily
You know how NYT Cooking recipes almost always call for 3/4 lb. pasta? This is a great recipe for using up those 1/4 lb. boxes (as long as they have the same cooking time). Per the advice of others, I added a boatload of pepper, nutmeg, and few other dashes and dollops of other stuff in my spice rack, and it came together quickly. Praise across the board!
Kerry
Yes to lemon, lots of freshly ground black pepper, and a dash of nutmeg. Sautéed the asparagus in olive oil and garlic. Super quick and easy and delicious.
Elisabeth
Delicious, and adaptable. I used a pound of farfalle, two bunches of asparagus, and dandelion greens bc no arugula. Doubled the cheeses (sorry, not sorry), added LOTS of freshly ground black pepper to make up for no arugula, and it was excellent! Still not excessively cheesy. Can’t wait to make it again, with arugula. Would also try swapping another sweet vegetable for the asparagus once it’s out of season. Maybe frozen peas??
A G
I made this dish exactly as directed and found it to be extremely bland. I even added some lemon as other reviewers directed and was still very underwhelmed. Will probably not make again.
Eliza
This was fantastic! Tasted exactly as pictured- springy, fresh, all the flavor of the ricotta without being heavy or creamy.
Tea
Soooo bland. No amount of salt or pepper or salty satori parm could liven this up. I even added some sauteed onions and burst cherry tomatoes. Leftovers left.
Quick & Easy / Needs Lemon
This was a really quick and easy dinner. Very tasty but would add more asparagus and some lemon juice next time.
NK in Prescott, AZ
I made quite a few additions to this: sauteed the asparagus in butter, instead of boiling; added cut cherry tomatoes with the arugula to the cooked and drained pasta, then added the ricotta with the pasta water; sauteed shrimp which I added at the very end with the cooked asparagus. But it still tasted bland. So instead of Parmesan, I used crumbled blue cheese -- and that made all the difference. In the end, my husband (who is a Belgian food snob) said it was very good!
Julia F
Pretty good but with some modifications! Saw some comments about adding cinnamon to the riccotta which helped, could use a good amount of black pepper, lemon, sauted the garlic with the asparagus and more olive oil than asked
Joyce
Our local cheese plant in Logan, Utah offers whipped ricotta, which made this recipe much easier to blend.
Louise
Ok. A little bland.
Kris H.
So good with a few changes per the comments. I did 1/2 pound pasta. Sauteed 2 smashed garlic cloves and a pinch of red pepper flakes in the olive oil for a 2-3 minutes. Tossed in some pre-cooked chicken breast and herbes de Provence to heat through. Then mixed everything together. Squeeze of lemon at the end. Easy peasy and very flavorful.
Kathleen
Great recipe, but I add lemon zest and juice and dried Aleppo pepper.
MaryEllen
Made this without ricotta since we didn’t have any on hand, so doubled the olive oil (maybe even a tad more) and added garlic powder to boot. Easy, tasty, and will make again. Mixing in rotisserie chicken is also a great way to make it super hearty for protein lovers.
Ofelia
I loved the concept but I had to add lemon zest and basil because I found it somewhat bland. Nutmeg would have been nice as well. I agree with other reviewers that it would be best to roast the asparagus.
paula
I roasted the asparagus and used baby arugula. Added much more Parmesan and a good sprinkle of fresh cracked pepper. Family loved it.
Kate
Delicious. Super easy. While the pasta was cooking I chopped some green garlic and a bit of preserved lemon and mixed that, and some nutmeg and black pepper, per other reviewers, into the ricotta. I used butter because it was parmesan, but then I found out that I had put romano! Still excellent, needs a bit more pasta water and I used extra ricotta.
Kristina
Based on other folks recommendations, I used lemon juice instead of the pasta water addition to the ricotta, fresh grated nutmeg and cracked black pepper. Subbed spinach for arugula and grano padano for parm based on the contents of my fridge. Excellent, easy and fast. Will def make again!
aniktwo
Tasty but needs some “umph”. I added lime zest, salt and herbes de Provence to the ricotta. It still wasn’t quite enough. I’m trying to figure out what else to do with it bc it’s very close to being fantastic I think it will reheat well for a work lunch.
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