Fettuccine Alfredo with Spring Vegetables

Votes: 3

Time: 30 min.
Complexity: easily
Servings: 4

Spring vegetables—fresh asparagus, green peas, and chives—imbue classic Alfredo pasta with a vibrant, juicy flavor. It also looks refreshingly springlike. Along with the vegetables, this dish also includes roasted shiitake mushrooms for a deeper, richer flavor, and citrus zest perfectly balances the rich, creamy sauce. All the pasta components—mushrooms, asparagus, and fettuccine—are cooked separately and then combined in a creamy sauce with green peas and gooey Parmesan cheese. A perfect treat for a spring holiday.

The recipes use measuring containers with the following volumes:
1 glass (st.) - 250 ml.
3/4 cup (st.) - 180 ml.
2/3 cup (st.) - 160 ml.
1/2 cup (st.) - 125 ml.
1/3 cup (st.) - 80 ml.
1/4 cup (st.) - 60 ml.
1 tablespoon (tbsp) - 15 ml.
1 teaspoon (tsp) - 5 ml.
1/5 teaspoon (tsp) - 1 ml.

Ingredients for the recipe:

1 package (250 g) of fresh fettuccine pasta
Extra-virgin olive oil, to add to the pasta
2 cups shiitake mushrooms (about 110 g), stems removed
1 bunch of thin asparagus, about 450 g
110 g unsalted butter
0.5 cup frozen green peas
2 cups heavy cream
1.5 tbsp. grated parmesan
1 tbsp. l. chopped chives
Finely grated zest of half a lemon

Ingredient Substitution Suggestions

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Recipes with similar ingredients: fettuccine pasta, shiitake mushrooms, asparagus, peas, Parmesan cheese, cream

Cooking the dish according to the recipe:

Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions until al dente. Set aside 0.5 cups of water, drain the rest, and toss the pasta in a colander with olive oil.
Meanwhile, slice the mushroom caps into 0.5 cm-thick strips. Trim the tough ends from the asparagus and cut each stalk into 5 cm-thick pieces. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of butter. Once the butter has melted, increase the heat to medium and add the mushrooms, spreading them out in a single layer. Cook, without stirring, until the undersides are browned, 1 to 2 minutes, then stir and cook until golden, about 2 more minutes.

Add the asparagus, another 1 tablespoon butter, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the asparagus is tender and the mushrooms are golden brown, 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer the vegetables to the colander with the pasta.
Reduce heat to medium and add the remaining 5 tablespoons of butter. When the butter is almost melted, stir in the cream and bring to a boil, then add the green peas and cook for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat.
Stir the Parmesan into the sauce. Add the vegetables and mushrooms, cooked pasta, green onions, and lemon zest and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. The pasta will thicken as it cools. To thin it, add the reserved pasta cooking water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the desired consistency is reached. Serve the pasta hot on warm plates.

Note

Whipping cream contains stabilizers that help it whip to the desired consistency. It will thicken your Alfredo sauce more than regular heavy cream. You can adjust the sauce's consistency by adding up to 0.5 cups of the pasta water.