Tagliatelle with radicchio, fresh herbs, lemon and walnuts

It is late summer in the desert and I find myself worn down from the constant and unforgiving heat. Here, it begins before the sun rises and lingers long into the night. But the sun is not all to blame: we make the choice to go out and spend long days at the lake, lying on the hot, sandy rocks. While there, the desire to find a perfect diving spot and the long swim back to shore takes its toll as well. And hiking when guests come, because they don’t understand how unforgiving the heat can be. Alas, the only cure for that is a nap followed by cocktails on the patio.

Of course, we do find excuses to stay indoors and read, exploring the inner workings of others minds.

But, still, I find myself longing for Colorado evenings, just at dusk, when the heat abates and the glow of the sunset splendor makes you forget the heat of the day. No matter where I have lived, I always find myself longing for Colorado evenings and for a certain moment: it is dusk and I am watering my garden by hand, because I like the feeling of giving life to my herbs and vegetables.

I also love the ritual of it. I’ll take my shoes off because I love the coolness of the grass and the refreshing felling of the water hitting my legs. This conjures memories of childhood, when my mom would spray my legs off in the evening, while she was watering her garden. I continue the ritual. I make my way across the radiant heat of the sidewalk into the cool dampness of the grass to water the next garden box and find I have some bark clinging to my legs, time for another rinse.

Now I live here, in the middle of the desert, where we do not have a garden nor cool grass to walk upon, only sunshine and sand.

But we do have a patio and I’ve lined it with all sorts of pots to grow little things in. Mostly herbs, the rabbits ate my eggplant and the tomatoes grew into a tree but never produced save for a tomato or two. And I can find a bit of respite from the heat here. While I water our herbs on the patio, I still find excuses to rinse my feet off. And even though it does little to cool the patio, I like the ritual, it is enough to keep me going.

I am inundated with herbs now, because it’s all I’ve managed to grow this year. So, I must find a way to use them every chance I get. Alex was working the other night so the menu was for one and I make whatever sounds good to me. Because I have radicchio in the fridge the answer seems obvious; pasta. I love radicchio in pasta, especially if there is cream involved. But because of the heat, I skip the cream and instead reach for butter, lemon and herbs to make a light, summery meal.

Radicchio at its best, will give a delightful bitterness to the sauce without being overpowering. While adding chopped herbs from the garden, along with lemon adds brightness to the pasta. The lemon juice will also help mellow the bitterness of radicchio.

Here, the sauce is made by reserving pasta water and adding butter and/or olive oil for a rich and creamy finish. I shaved Piave Vecchio on top and chopped walnuts to round out the dish with nuttiness, this pasta had me coming back for seconds despite being full, call me a glutton if you like. I enjoyed this as a meal, but it would be divine as a side to roast chicken and a green salad, perhaps with fresh lettuce from your garden?

For this dish, it is important to under cook your pasta by 1-2 minutes because it is going to continue cooking in the sauce. Before you drain your pasta, reserve 3/4 cups of the cooking water, this will be a big part of your sauce. Most importantly, do not rinse your pasta. The goal is to strain and then add it directly to the sauce to absorb flavor and finish cooking.

Timing is everything with this recipe so read it over once before starting.

Servings 4-5

Author Kelsey Hebert

Prep time

30 Min

Cook time

20 Min

Total time

50 Min

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Tagliatelle with Radicchio, Fresh Herbs, Lemon and Walnuts

This divine pasta relies heavily on bitter Radicchio. Simmered in Valpolicella Classico and mounted with butter to mellow the boldness. Grilled king trumpet mushrooms and fresh herbs from the garden brighten and round out the flavor profile.

Ingredients

• 4-5 Tagliatelle nests
• 1 medium radicchio
• 4-5 king trumpet mushrooms
• 3/4 c Valpolicella Classico
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp thyme, leaves picked
• 1 1/2 tsp chives, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp parsley, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp basil, thinly sliced
• 1 fresno pepper, brunoise
• 1 lemon, zested
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 3/4 c reserved pasta water
• 2 c Piave Vecchio, finely shaved
• 1/2 c walnuts, toasted and chopped
• 2 tbsp butter, cut into 4 cubes

Instructions

1. Begin by heating your grill to medium-high and heating your oven to 350 F. Next, prepare a medium pot of water for the pasta, salt well.
2. While the grill is heating, quarter the radicchio, remove the core and cut into squares, about 1″. Cut the mushrooms in half lengthwise oil lightly with avocado oil and season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
3. Toast the walnuts on a sheet tray for 10 minutes or until the appear a shade darker and smell toasty. Once you have removed the nuts, and if you are using the oven for your mushrooms: raise the temperature of the oven to 500 F.
4. Heat your pasta water.
5. Now you can prepare the remainder of your ingredients by cutting to the appropriate size and shaving your cheese.
6. At this point, your oven/grill should be ready, grill the mushrooms. You are looking for color and flavor here, so get some good grill marks on those bad boys. When the mushrooms are cool enough to handle cut in half lengthwise, and then into cubes.
7. Take a moment to gather yourself, pour yourself a glass of wine, sip, relax. Everything is going to come together pretty quickly here so take a moment to make sure all your ingredients are ready to go and near the stove.
8. In a large sauté pan with high sides, or a dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium high heat. While this is happening, drop your pasta into the boiling water and cook 2 minutes short of the time called for on the pasta package (you will continue to cook the pasta to appropriate doneness in the pasta sauce).
9. Now, back to the heating oil: sauté garlic and Fresno pepper in hot oil until they have softened a bit and are fragrant. Next, add the radicchio and cook until it begins to wilt. Add the cubed mushrooms and deglaze with red wine.
10. While the wine is reducing, set up a strainer for the pasta and remove 3/4 c of water from your boiling pasta. This works best by dipping a measuring cup with a handle into the cooking water, rather than trying to capture it while it is being poured out. And, it helps you to remember the water, lest you forget and dump too soon.
11. Once the wine has reduced to about 2 tbsp, add the lemon juice and zest, 1/2 c of the reserved pasta water and the partially cooked pasta.
12. Promptly lower the heat to to a simmer and cook, stirring often, so the the sauce can begin to coat the pasta. You may need to add a bit more of the pasta water here, but use your best judgement. We are going for a nice silky coating of sauce here, you don’t want the pasta to be soupy. Once you get it there, remove the pot from the stove.
13. Next add your butter and stir continuously until the cubes have melted and contributed to the silkiness of your sauce. Don’t forget to taste your sauce, add salt and pepper if necessary. And finally, add the herbs and plate each pasta before finishing the dish with a good heaping of Piave Vecchio and the toasted walnuts.
14. Enjoy with a glass of the Valpolicella you added to the pasta!

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