• SAUCE

  • 15 ounces whole milk ricotta

  • ¾ cup full-fat greek yogurt

  • 1 bunch cilantro

  • 1 garlic clove, peeled

  • ½ a lemon, juiced

  • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

  • salt & pepper to taste
    

• PASTA

  • 1 lb orecchiette

  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

  • 1 lb ground lamb

  • 1 bunch asparagus, sliced on a bias

  • 4-6 garlic cloves, minced

  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

  • chili oil of choice (optional)

1. Cook orecchiette in salted water until al dente.

2. Blend all of the sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender (ricotta/ yogurt/ cilantro/ garlic/ lemon juice/ olive oil). Taste and add salt & pepper as needed.

3. Preheat a wok or shallow pan on medium heat with one tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil.

4. Add ground lamb to the pan, season generously with salt and pepper. Then use a spoon or spatula to break up with pieces of meat and cook 95% of the way through until there is barely any pink remaining.
   I use my spoon to make a grid pressing in lines across the pan horizontally then vertically to break up the meat, I do this continuously while it cooks to keep any big pieces from forming

5. Pour entire contents of the pan into a bowl and set aside, covered.
   You want to keep the rendered fat and any liquids that came out during cooking in the bowl so that lamb doesn’t dry out.

6. In the pan you cooked the lamb in, add the remaining tablespoon of oil and the asparagus. Cook until asparagus is bright green but still has a bit of crunch

7. Pour the asparagus out of the pan into the bowl with the lamb.

8. Bring the heat to a medium-low or low and add your butter and garlic to the pan. Cooking the garlic until it is fragrant and just staring to gain color.

9. Scoop your al dente pasta straight from the boiling water (using a slotted spoon or spider) into the pan with the butter and the garlic.
   This should carry over a good amount of pasta water but add more as needed to make a homogeneous sauce.

10. Quickly stir, stir, stir to coat the pasta in the garlic butter and pasta water. Add in your creamy cilantro sauce a ¼ cup at a time until you get your desired sauciness and have fully coated your pasta. Add the ground lamb and asparagus stirring to combine, adding more sauce if needed

11. Serve with a generous drizzle of the chili oil of your choice

Cooking this pasta is one of the first signs of spring for me. It usually starts, like most of my cooking, with a trip to the farmers market. The second I see those gorgeous vivid green asparagus stalks, I know we’re shifting into a new season and I’ve got to honor that the best way I know how, with delicious pasta! The green doesn’t stop at the asparagus, the sauce for this is a combination of cilantro, yogurt, and ricotta coating the pasta in a soft green blanket. All of this is wrapped up with lamb as the protein and while I may not personally celebrate easter I haven’t escaped tying lamb and ,the spring-y time of year, when that holiday occurs together.