CACIO E PEPE CON ASPARAGI: PASTA IN A CHEESE AND PEPPER SAUCE, WITH ASPARAGUS

As I've said before about cacio e pepe, its pasta, cheese, salt, pepper. What's not to love?! As simple a dish as it is, the flavours of all ingredients really matter, so use the best you can get.

Toasted peppercorns are the perfect smoky spice for anything. Here they complement the cheese exceptionally well to make a cheesy sauce that covers the pasta and asparagus. 

Cacio e pepe is a Roman dish, and traditionally only has cheese, pepper, and pasta tossed together with a little bit of the starchy pasta cooking water added to bind the sauce together. This recipe has sautéed asparagus added because I had some fresh perky asparagus waiting, and I wanted a vegetable with the pasta so I could make it a meal. 

Cacio e Pepe Con Asparagi
Makes: 4 servings

- 1/2 box bucatini or spaghetti 
- 1 lb. asparagus, cut into 2 in. long pieces
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1-1/2 tbsp. coarsely ground toasted black pepper
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 3/4 cup Pecorino Romano, grated (in a pinch use Parmigiano Reggiano, Grana Padano, or other hard cheese (or a combination of hard cheeses))

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and boil until al dente.
2. While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large pan.
3. Add the pepper and asparagus and sauté till the asparagus is tender, about 5 minutes.
4. When the pasta is done, remove from the heat. Using tongs, lift the pasta from the water, add to the pan with the cooked asparagus and mix in with the asparagus.
5. Remove the pan from heat. Immediately add the grated cheese and about 1/2 cup of the starchy pasta cooking water and mix so the cheese coats the pasta and asparagus.
6. Serve hot with additional cheese and pepper to taste.

EATING SPRING: MUSHROOM AND ASPARAGUS RICE WITH TOASTED BLACK PEPPER

This is an easy and refreshing sattvic spring recipe that's so great on its own, with roasted vegetables like zucchini and carrots, or a salad of romaine lettuce and sliced cucumbers dressed with lemon juice and salt.

It won't be sattvic meal any more, but this rice would also be a terrific side with salmon, sea bass, barramundi (Asian seabass, bhetki in Bengali), or cod.

Ghee and black pepper are the big flavours in this dish, so if you use olive oil, the flavour will be very different. Butter will certainly work very well if you don't have ghee but it's heavier than ghee and not really a sattvic food.

Mushroom and Asparagus Rice with Toasted Black Pepper
Makes: approximately 4 servings (1-1/2 cups per serving)

- 1 cup basmati rice, soaked (at least 30 min, up to 24 hours)
- 3/4 lb. asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2 in. pieces
- 8 oz. crimini mushrooms, sliced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp. salt
- 3/4 - 1 tbsp. toasted black peppercorns, coarsely ground
- 1 tbsp. spiced ghee, regular ghee, or butter
- 1-1/2 cups water
- 4 tbsp. finely chopped parsley (i.e. finely chop enough parsley to make 4 tbsp.)

1. In a large pan on medium-high, heat the ghee. Lower the heat to medium and add the toasted peppercorns.
2. Add the mushrooms, then minced garlic and saute (turn the heat down to medium-low if needed until the mushrooms release water, then turn it back up to medium to evaporate the water and finish sauteing the mushrooms.)
3. Drain the rice well and set aside - you want minimal water on the rice.
4. When the mushrooms are sauteed, keep the heat on medium and add the asparagus and drained rice and saute for 3-5 minutes or until the rice is opaque and looks mostly dry.
5. Add the 1-1/2 cups water to the rice and vegetables and turn the heat up to high. Let the water come to a boil, add salt and stir.
6. Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the water is almost all absorbed. Then lower the heat to low, cover the pan and cook the rice until you can't see any water.
7. Take the lid off and serve garnished with 1 tbsp. parsley per serving.

Notes:

1. It's really not necessary to laboriously wipe the dirt off each mushroom. Give the mushrooms a quick wash and dry them thoroughly with paper or cotton dish towels before slicing.
2. Trim off the dried bit of each mushroom stem, and keep the rest of the stem on, or remove and slice separately if it's easier to handle the mushrooms that way. If you must discard the stems from mushrooms for a recipe, save them and use to make mushroom stock, or use in a recipe where you can use sliced or diced mushrooms.