simple spinach asparagus spaghettini
While eating chicken with pasta is considered digusting, a travesty, grounds for excommunication, etc. by most Italians, I am an American who grew up with fond memories not only of Real Italian Food™ but also of going to California Pizza Kitchen in the early 2000’s with my Italian mother, who turned a blind eye while I ordered dishes like this one: minus the standard tomato checca, substitute spaghettini for fusili, and always with marinated grilled chicken breast added on top.
It’s no longer on the menu, but the dish lives on as one of my favorite spring pastas—not due to nostalgia, but due to its ease and versatility. It’s my personal take on a primavera, with lots of peak-season asparagus and a high greens-to-noodles ratio that reads less like an indulgence than like a warm, tangly pasta salad. The prep is minimal and the sauce is light; spaghettini (or cappelini, or angel hair, or whatever yours is called) is particularly nice in warmer weather not just because it doesn’t come with the same burdens as thicker shapes, but also because it cooks in just about a minute in salty boiling water before being finished right in the wine sauce in a few minutes more. It was born to be made in the golden evening light and eaten exclusively outside.
The key to keeping this dish fresh and crisp is to cook it in component with a degree of separation in between. Because these vegetables are delicate and lose their green vibrance easily if they’re even slightly overcooked, nothing actually simmers together until the very end. Finely chopped asparagus is essentially flash-sautéed with a lot of garlic just until bright green and still snappy before being parked in a bowl temporarily; a mountain of spinach is then wilted in the same olive oil down into nonexistence before it joins the asparagus to wait its turn. A little deglaze of white wine, butter, and lemon juice form the entire sauce.
If you feel so inclined, you too can grill some chicken before you start! If you’re cooking this dish alone, I recommend you marinate the chicken (in something simple—whether that’s olive oil / lemon or wine vinegar / seasonings, or a just big fat glug of “Italian Dressing” from Costco since we’ve established we don’t care about our ancestors or whatever) while you prep everything for the pasta. Then grill the chicken and rest it under foil while you cook the rest of the dish, which comes together extremely quickly and is tough to manage if you’re also running outside every few minutes. If you’ve got a second pair of hands assisting, one of you can do grill duty while the other assembles the pasta. When you’re ready, slice the chicken into thin strips and serve on top.
It’s simple. It’s spring-y. It’s best enjoyed with a glass of orange wine but don’t let me tell you what to do. Serving it with a grilled cutlet may not be “right” but I don’t care: spinach asparagus spaghettini is delicious alone but even better with chicken and if you have a problem with that then go ahead and ban me from the old country!!!!
recipe
Simple, spring-y spaghettini primavera with asparagus and spinach in a light, garlicky white wine sauce. Inspired not by my Italian heritage, but by an old menu from California Pizza Kitchen.
Effortful time: 15 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
Serves 2, see note below on how to adapt
you need
2 tbsp. olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, sliced thin
1 bunch thin asparagus spears, woody ends snapped off
1 whole bunch adult spinach, washed well and roughly chopped (or sub 5 oz. baby spinach)
3/4 cup dry white wine
1 tbsp. butter
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
Salt and fresh black pepper, to taste
4-6 oz. spaghettini, cappelini, or angel hair—it’s all the same
Fresh grated parm, for serving
Optional: 8 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast cutlets, salted and peppered and marinated in whatever you’ve got—Italian dressing works great!
make it
Heat the grill if you’re making chicken. Make sure the chicken is thin, so either buy cutlets or cut it in half butterfly-style with a knife. Combine chicken cutlets with marinade and let sit at room temperature 15 minutes.
Get prepped. Bring salty water to a boil. Thinly slice 4 cloves of garlic. Rinse the asparagus and snap off the woody ends; chop the remaining spears into 1/2” pieces. Wash your spinach well (unless using baby, which is usually clean) and chop into 1/2” pieces.
Grill the chicken if you’re making it. Tent with foil and set aside until ready to use.
Saute the vegetables. Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil over medium heat in a medium-size deep sauté pan or Dutch oven. Stir in the garlic and cook until just fragrant, 30 seconds. Add the asparagus and quickly sauté, about 1-2 minutes or until bright green but still crisp and snappy. Remove these with a slotted spoon and let them hang out in a bowl. Now add all of the spinach, and lightly sauté until fully wilted and very deep green, about 1 minute or so. Remove these to the same bowl as the asparagus.
Build the sauce. In your skillet, add the white wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up any garlic bits. Season, then let this simmer about 3-4 minutes or until the wine has reduced by about 1/3 to 1/2 (it’s pretty flexible, just eyeball it). Add 1 tbsp. of butter and the lemon juice from 1/2 a lemon, and stir to combine.
Put in your spaghettini to boil. Cook 60 seconds and use tongs to move it immediately to the sauce pan; don’t drain it. Add a small splash of pasta water and bring to a simmer for another 60 seconds, or until the sauce is starting to get glossy and hug the noodle strands. The par-cooking in boiling water stops it from absorbing all your delicious sauce, but keeps it from being overdone; you’ll find the sauce gets thicker as the pasta absorbs the excess liquid. Note that this ONLY works with spaghettini—if you are substituting your noodle shape to anything else, you need to cook for 2 minutes under the lowest time listed on the packaging, which makes this recipe a little less quick.
Finish and serve. Turn your skillet down to low. Add all of the spinach and asparagus back to the pan and use tongs to toss it together until well incorporated. Serve some up along with a grating of fresh parm and a drizzle of olive oil; if you made chicken breasts, slice them thinly on a board and slide on top of each pasta portion.
a note on scaling
This is a very flexible, forgiving recipe with a LOT of vegetables relative to the amount of pasta, which is part of why I love it. If doubling to serve four, you absolutely can double the entire recipe, but you can also get away with a higher pasta-veg ratio if you’d prefer to stretch out your produce. If that’s the case, just double the pasta, butter, wine, and lemon juice (you’ll also need more pasta water), but use the same amount of the spinach and asparagus. It’s up to you and your taste, but having tested both, either way will work.