Now that we’re rolling into the last few months of our second pregnancy, I’ve begun cooking dinner nearly every night so that Tracie P can rest at the end of her day.
The star of last night’s dinner was penne with white asparagus (above).
I peeled, trimmed, washed, and steamed a bunch of beautiful white asparagus until tender and then puréed the stalks and tips with about a quarter cup of white wine (I added the wine while the asparagus was still piping hot so that the alcohol would evaporate).
Then I folded in some freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano and an eighth of a cup of milk.
Before folding in the Rustichella d’Abruzzo (our house brand) penne, I added some of the pasta’s cooking water to the purée.
As Tracie P likes to say, one of the greatest feelings in the world is when your daughter enjoys eating something you cooked for her. Georgia P INHALED it. :)
Tracie P (who has a glass of wine a couple nights a week) and I paired with one of our all-time favorite Apulian wines, our good friend and client Paolo Cantele’s 2011 Rosato from Negroamaro.
The wine had actually been open since the night before but hadn’t lost any of its freshness or zing. And its balance of delicate tannin and fruit was a superb complement the sweet asparagus and salty Parmgiano Reggiano.
If I do say so myself, it couldn’t have been a better pairing.
Paolo and became fast friends back in 2009 when we first met and I’ve been giving him and his family a hand with their English-language media for about two years now.
This year, we launched a new blog devoted to their presence in the U.S. market, CanteleUSA.com.
Check out my post today for their blog on “Why Italians drink more rosé than you’d think”.
Do Bianchi 
Rustichella is actually hard to find in Italia…great pasta though. Love the starchiness. The garganelli is quite good too.
I was disappointed the other day by their orecchiette but the spaghetti and the penne are our number one. Need to check out the garganelli.
Looks delicious! I love the pairing, too. Good on your for picking up the cooking while your lovely wife rests.
yes lauren, it is good :) i enjoy cooking very much, but i’m pretty wiped and crampy at the end of the day!
as for the wine, rose’ from negroamaro is my favorite way to drink rose’! and cantele does right :)
Asparagus and Prosecco is a pretty good match – we also had Valter Scarbolo’s PG’s with fresh raw asparagus@ La Frasca. I think I am asparagussed out for now
the ramato is AWESOME with asparagus… Italians don’t share the American fuss with wine pairing… thanks for the comment, Ace!
Love that rose…thanks to you :-)
it’s one of our all-time favs… and such a value… so glad to share some Negroamaro with you, Vinogirl! :)
Tried this recipe this evening and can see why your 1.5-year-old (?) devoured it. Perfect upgrade of Gerber’s creamed vegetable thanks to pasta and parmigiano. Bravo! Daughters are amazing and get more so each year.