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Creamy asparagus tagliatelle with poached eggs

A perfect spring dinner, made in under 30 minutes.
Servings 3 servings

Ingredients 

  • 500 g 1,1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut diagonally
  • 250 g 9 oz tagliatelle or similar pasta
  • 160 ml 2/3 cup heavy cream
  • 80 g 2/3 stick unsalted butter
  • 60 g 1/2 cup parmesan (or parmesan-style) cheese + more for serving
  • 1/4 teaspoon smoked hot paprika
  • sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste
  • 3 really fresh eggs optional

Instructions

  • Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add asparagus and cook for about 10 minutes, until asparagus is tender and juicy. Remove asparagus from water with a small (spider) strainer and cool.
  • Keep water boiling and add the pasta. Cook until tender, about 10 minutes, or whatever the time listed on the package. Reserve a cup of pasta water, then drain the pasta, set aside.
  • If making poached eggs, bring a saucepan of salted water to a simmer. Crack each egg into a small bowl or measuring cup, fill 2-3 extra bowls with ice cold water.
  • Cooking one at a time, stir water with a spoon until it’s spinning around and quickly place the bowl close to the surface of the water and slip the egg into the the center of the pot. Cook undisturbed for 4-5 minutes, until you see the egg white turn from translucent to white, but the yolk should remain soft and runny. Gently remove the egg from the water with a slotted spoon and transfer it to a bowl filled with cold water. This will stop the egg from cooking further, but give you enough time to poach the other egg and make the sauce. You can also cook 2-3 eggs at the same time, if your pot is big enough.
As you’re cooking the eggs, make the sauce:
  • In a large saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat. As it melts add the cream and keep stirring until thoroughly combined. Toss in 1/3 of the cheese and keep stirring until it melts, then add another 1/3 of the cheese. Once that melts add the rest. The sauce has to be creamy and uniformed, without any lumps of cheese. Stir in paprika, salt and pepper, taste to see if it needs more seasonings.
  • Remove pan from heat and place in the pasta. Stir to combine then add the asparagus and gently stir until both the pasta and asparagus are equally coated with the sauce.
  • Transfer pasta to serving plates/bowls, top with a poached egg (optional) and extra cheese. Serve immediately.

Notes

The easiest way to trim asparagus is to snap it at the ends. Asparagus naturally snaps into two at the point where the hard part meets the softened, not good, bottom part. Simply take one asparagus and bend it at the bottom until it breaks in two. You can do that with the whole bunch, or use that broken off piece as a guide and cut off the same amount from the rest of the asparagus using a knife.
If you want visual guides for poaching an egg, as I don’t have any to share at this point, here are a few by: Alton Brown, Simply Recipes, The Kitchn
Recipe inspired by Bon Appétit, February 2003.