Creamy Asparagus Pasta
Updated March 11, 2025
David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
20 grams gim, often labeled as roasted seaweed
2 (4-inch) squares dasima or kombu (dried kelp)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 pound rigatoni
1 ½ cups heavy cream
1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 large garlic cloves, finely grated
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
½ pound asparagus, thinly sliced at an angle
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
Flaky sea salt, for serving
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
93 grams carbs; 122 milligrams cholesterol; 797 calories; 11 grams monosaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 22 grams saturated fat; 39 grams fat; 5 grams fiber; 673 milligrams sodium; 21 grams protein; 8 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Fold the gim in half and, with very sharp kitchen shears or a chef’s knife, slice into thin strips. Set aside for serving.
- Step 2
In a large pot, combine 1 dasima square with 8 cups cold tap water. Bring the water to a boil and season with the kosher salt. Tumble in the pasta and cook for half the time the package tells you is al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta, then add it back to the pot. (Discard the dasima.)
- Step 3
Add the remaining dasima square, cream, red onion, garlic, black pepper and reserved pasta water to the pasta. Bring to a boil over high heat, then immediately reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Stirring occasionally, cook the pasta until the onion-infused cream has thickened significantly, thinly coating the noodles, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Step 4
Turn off the heat. Add the vinegar and asparagus, and stir to combine for 1 minute. The residual heat from the pasta will gently cook the asparagus to tender-crisp. Stir in the sesame oil and season with more black pepper, if desired. Divide the pasta among serving dishes, discarding the dasima, and shower with the reserved gim and sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Serve immediately, before the gim wilts and turns soggy.
Private Notes
Comments
A few notes on seaweed to make it easier to find. Roasted gim (Korean name) and nori (Japanese name) are the same, but nori is generally easier to find in supermarkets. Approximately 95% of seaweed eaten in the US is imported from Asia (predominately China), but there is very good Kombu that is grown in Maine that is found in supermarkets and online - Ocean's Balance and Maine Coast Sea Vegetables are a couple of companies that harvest different seaweeds from the Gulf of Maine.
I would suggest subbing almond milk, cashew cream or full fat coconut milk or cream for the dairy cream.
You can buy already perfectly thinly sliced seaweed for topping in Asian grocery stores. Look for "kizami nori." Much cleaner and faster, and for me, worth it to have lots on hand. I toss it on a lot of wafu pasta.
I made this tonight following the recipe, except since it was only the two of us, reduced in volume. It was simply inedible. My wife picked around to get the pasta, but I couldn't even bother with that. #fusion is a scam.
One and a half cups of heavy cream in a recipe that serves 4. How unhealthful and wildly fattening is that?!
Followed the recipe closely but then took other commenters' advice and added some prawns and a heaping tablespoon of gochujong at the end. Plated it with some flying fish roe I happened to have. It was amazing.