Pasta With Asparagus, Arugula and Ricotta Recipe (2024)

Very good, but sauce needed more contrast - acid (lemon juice) and herbs (herbs de Provence) worked.

My asparagus was a little thicker, so I sautéed in garlic, olive oil, and a little white wine....added some peas....gave it the kick it needed.

My Italian grandmother used nutmeg, rather than cinnamon. Either way, it's a great addition. I agree a good dose of black pepper is in order. Excellent spring recipe

Upgrade: roast the asparagus in a hot oven with sliced lemon, salt pepper and olive oil.

Smitten Kitchen has an almost-identical recipe that uses goat cheese and tarragon instead of ricotta and arugula. I've never added the tarragon and don't miss it - there's lots of olive oil, lemon zest and juice, and black pepper to give it the kick it needs. Great one-pot one-bowl recipe (add the asparagus to the pasta for the last 1-2 minutes of cooking).

Just sautéed garlic in the olive oil and let it cool before mixing everything together and this recipe was amazing!!

A very good, fresh tasting and simple dish. Definitely prep ahead all ingredients. Made some additions to the items tossed together: 1) 2-3 strips of bacon (or prosciutto), sliced 1/4 inch, and cooked until crisp and 2) zest of 1 lemon. No garlic needed.

Very nice base recipe but lacking something. I added lemon juice as suggested, and then remembered my Italian grandmother used cinnamon with her ricotta and pasta. I added about a tablespoon of cinnamon and lots black pepper. Made the dish go from good to great!

You know how NYT Cooking recipes almost always call for 3/4 lb. pasta? This is a great recipe for using up those 1/4 lb. boxes (as long as they have the same cooking time). Per the advice of others, I added a boatload of pepper, nutmeg, and few other dashes and dollops of other stuff in my spice rack, and it came together quickly. Praise across the board!

Yes to lemon, lots of freshly ground black pepper, and a dash of nutmeg. Sautéed the asparagus in olive oil and garlic. Super quick and easy and delicious.

Delicious, and adaptable. I used a pound of farfalle, two bunches of asparagus, and dandelion greens bc no arugula. Doubled the cheeses (sorry, not sorry), added LOTS of freshly ground black pepper to make up for no arugula, and it was excellent! Still not excessively cheesy. Can’t wait to make it again, with arugula. Would also try swapping another sweet vegetable for the asparagus once it’s out of season. Maybe frozen peas??

I made this dish exactly as directed and found it to be extremely bland. I even added some lemon as other reviewers directed and was still very underwhelmed. Will probably not make again.

This was a really quick and easy dinner. Very tasty but would add more asparagus and some lemon juice next time.

I made quite a few additions to this: sauteed the asparagus in butter, instead of boiling; added cut cherry tomatoes with the arugula to the cooked and drained pasta, then added the ricotta with the pasta water; sauteed shrimp which I added at the very end with the cooked asparagus. But it still tasted bland. So instead of Parmesan, I used crumbled blue cheese -- and that made all the difference. In the end, my husband (who is a Belgian food snob) said it was very good!

Pretty good but with some modifications! Saw some comments about adding cinnamon to the riccotta which helped, could use a good amount of black pepper, lemon, sauted the garlic with the asparagus and more olive oil than asked

Our local cheese plant in Logan, Utah offers whipped ricotta, which made this recipe much easier to blend.

Ok. A little bland.

So good with a few changes per the comments. I did 1/2 pound pasta. Sauteed 2 smashed garlic cloves and a pinch of red pepper flakes in the olive oil for a 2-3 minutes. Tossed in some pre-cooked chicken breast and herbes de Provence to heat through. Then mixed everything together. Squeeze of lemon at the end. Easy peasy and very flavorful.

Great recipe, but I add lemon zest and juice and dried Aleppo pepper.

Made this without ricotta since we didn’t have any on hand, so doubled the olive oil (maybe even a tad more) and added garlic powder to boot. Easy, tasty, and will make again. Mixing in rotisserie chicken is also a great way to make it super hearty for protein lovers.

I loved the concept but I had to add lemon zest and basil because I found it somewhat bland. Nutmeg would have been nice as well. I agree with other reviewers that it would be best to roast the asparagus.

I roasted the asparagus and used baby arugula. Added much more Parmesan and a good sprinkle of fresh cracked pepper. Family loved it.

Delicious. Super easy. While the pasta was cooking I chopped some green garlic and a bit of preserved lemon and mixed that, and some nutmeg and black pepper, per other reviewers, into the ricotta. I used butter because it was parmesan, but then I found out that I had put romano! Still excellent, needs a bit more pasta water and I used extra ricotta.

Based on other folks recommendations, I used lemon juice instead of the pasta water addition to the ricotta, fresh grated nutmeg and cracked black pepper. Subbed spinach for arugula and grano padano for parm based on the contents of my fridge. Excellent, easy and fast. Will def make again!

Tasty but needs some “umph”. I added lime zest, salt and herbes de Provence to the ricotta. It still wasn’t quite enough. I’m trying to figure out what else to do with it bc it’s very close to being fantastic I think it will reheat well for a work lunch.

Perhaps add sun-dried tomatoes and pan-toasted pine nuts? Or a little sharp Gorgonzola?

Roasted asparagus with salt, pepper, olive oil as suggested. Also added in a bit of nutmeg and lemon juice after all together. Delicious springtime dish!