Beth Adamson is the author of the popular Substack Borough Chef, which she launched three years ago and named after the district in London she lived in at the time. Now the chef and recipe developer has built up a huge following for her take on modern vegetarian food, with 428,000 followers on Instagram and 1 million likes on TikTok.
Each week, Beth celebrates a vegetable that’s in season. In recent posts she has cycled through turnips, then spring greens, wild garlic and new potatoes. And her finished dishes are so colourful and inviting that even a staunch carnivore would be tempted.
This is the second time the Nerve has featured one of her dishes – the first, back in November, was an autumnal mushroom pie. Witnessing the arrival of bunches of asparagus in the shops, we decided to go back to her in search of inspiration. Of this dish, Beth writes: “Such a simple and delicious pasta recipe. An excellent vehicle for springtime asparagus consumption.”
Words by Jane Ferguson
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Asparagus & ricotta tagliatelle
A simple pasta recipe – creamy ricotta, heaps of freshness from the lemon and basil.
Serves 4
Ingredients
400g dried tagliatelle pasta
1 bunch asparagus, woody ends trimmed off and discarded, the rest slice (keep the tips whole and slice the stalk finely)
1 shallot, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely grated
20g basil leaves
250g ricotta
1 lemon
Grated pecorino to taste
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Method
Bring a large pan of salted water to a rolling boil. Cook the pasta to al dente, adding the asparagus to the pan in the last minute of cooking. Drain, reserving a cup of the pasta cooking water
In a wide pan sweat the shallots with a little oil. When softened stir in the garlic and lemon zest
Keep half of the basil leaves aside for garnish and blend the rest with the ricotta and enough of the pasta water to easily blend smooth
Stir the pasta and ricotta mix into the pan with the shallots. Stir over a medium heat until well combined – add extra pasta water if necessary to get a creamy consistency. Stir in lemon juice, pecorino, salt & pepper to taste
Top with more basil and pecorino to serve
Beth Adamson’s weekly vegetable-based recipes can be found here.