Thursday night: Pasta Three Ways

Last night it was clear that we were going to be having something with pasta and asparagus and ricotta, but it was unclear exactly what that something would be. Rather than actually make and decision, we staged it and had pasta with three different sauces:

1. Pesto cream: This was the last of the pesto from last week's batch. I mixed it with a bit of cream and some pasta water.
2. Sausage and vegetables: I browned some italian sausage and added thinly sliced scallions (CSA), diced red bell pepper, steamed asparagus (each spear cut into 3-4 pieces), olive oil and a bit of crushed red pepper. Just before serving, I tossed in a spoonful of pasta water to deglaze and make a bit of sauce. I topped each serving with fresh olive oil.
   
3. Ricotta and nutmeg: this idea, from A Tuscan in the Kitchen, used the last of the ricotta I made last weekend. I mixed the ricotta with a good pinch of sugar, a bit of salt, some freshly ground nutmeg, and enough pasta water to loosen it up.

The first sauce was predictably good, no surprises there. The second is something that would become a regular part of my repertoire if asparagus wasn't so damn seasonal. :-) It would benefit from a bit more sauce, which isn't something that would be hard to arrange. The ricotta/nutmeg dish was really interesting and a complete contrast. Andrea and I both liked it a lot, but it maybe needed a bit more separation (in time) from the other dishes.