Shell pasta with asparagus and lemon pesto & goat cheese – enjoy spring freshness

preparation

For the pasta, boil plenty of water with salt in a pot.

Wash the green asparagus, peel the lower third of the stalks, and trim off the woody ends. Cook the asparagus in boiling salted water for about 3 minutes until slightly al dente. Drain, rinse in ice-cold water, drain, and let cool completely.

Meanwhile, toast the pine nuts in a dry pan. Transfer to a plate and let cool.

Peel and dice the garlic clove. Wash the lemon in hot water and dry it. Finely grate the zest and squeeze out the juice. Rinse the herbs and shake dry. Pick off the leaves. Roughly chop the leaves and chives.

Cut the cooled asparagus into pieces and pat dry thoroughly.

Place the asparagus, pine nuts, garlic, lemon juice and zest, and herbs in a blender. Blend until smooth, gradually adding the oil.

Finely grate the Parmesan cheese and stir it into the pesto. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, for the pasta, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to the package instructions, stirring occasionally, until slightly al dente.

For the goat cheese patties, preheat the oven to 80°C. Rinse the rosemary and halve the sprigs. Place the goat cheese patties in a baking dish, season with pepper, and drizzle with honey. Place the rosemary sprigs on top and heat the cheese in the center of the warm oven for about 5 minutes.

Drain the pasta and let it drain well, reserving some of the pasta cooking water.

Return the pasta, some of the cooking water and plenty of pesto to the hot pot and toss to coat.

Divide the pesto pasta among warmed plates. Remove the goat cheese slices from the oven and arrange them on top. Garnish with nasturtium blossoms, if desired.

Tip
Got some pesto left? Simply pour it into a jar, cover with a little oil, and seal. It will keep in the refrigerator for about a week.

 This is interesting

• Traditionally, the season begins in mid-April and ends on June 24, St. John's Day. On average, each household in this country enjoys around 2.2 kg of asparagus during this time—preferably white spears.
• At the beginning of the season in spring, this slender vegetable takes a while to arrive, growing at only 1 cm per day. The stalks take 20 to 25 days before they're ready to harvest. Things pick up pace from mid-season onward, when they reach 5 cm per day.
• Whether green or white: the stalks have more than 90 percent water content and very few calories.
• Rumor has it that asparagus has aphrodisiac properties. In any case, the vegetable contains plenty of valuable nutrients such as potassium and vitamins A, B, C, and E.
• Freshly picked stalks are firm and smell pleasantly grassy. They squeak when rubbed together.