LINGUINE WITH ASPARAGUS & PROSECCO

Serves 4 Cooking with prosecco always seems rather extravagant, but less so if you take it as an excuse to enjoy the rest of the bottle with your meal. You could, of course, make this linguine con asparagi e prosecco using white wine or a splash of vermouth, but there is something about the delicacy of prosecco that works particularly well here. You can almost taste the bubbles in the sauce. If you can use fresh egg pasta, better still. 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 small onion, peeled, chopped 400g asparagus, trimmed, cut into 3–5cm lengths 100ml prosecco handful of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped 400g linguine 30g salted butter 30g parmesan, grated

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add onion and a generous pinch of sea salt. Cook, stirring, over a medium-low heat for 5–10 minutes or until onion is translucent. Add asparagus and prosecco, then season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until all liquid has evaporated and asparagus is tender. (If it is not quite done by the time the wine evaporates, add just enough water to cover the base of the pan and cook for a little longer.) Stir in parsley. Meanwhile, cook linguine in a large saucepan of generously salted boiling water until al dente. Just before you drain pasta, scoop ½ cup of cooking water from pan and reserve. Drain linguine, then return to pan and stir in reserved cooking water, little by little, and butter until well combined. Add asparagus mixture to linguine. Give everything one last good stir and top with grated parmesan to serve.