It's Sunday.
Today is about pasta and painting.
It's summer in Paris.
The weather isn't great, but there's beauty everywhere.
I'm going to my friend's, Louis Thomas, the painter.
He'll paint my portrait and I'll cook him my asparagus pasta.
A day without good food is a wasted day.
-Ciao! How are you? -I'm fine and you?
Can you hold the asparagus for me while I change?
For the asparagus pasta, I need:
a bunch of asparagus, spaghetti, salt, pepper, olive oil, garlic, parmesan,
tarragon, mint, chive flowers, oregano.
Let's get started!
First of all, let's take some fresh herbs:
I chop up some mint, tarragon,
oregano and chives, and I'll keep the flowers, of course.
I take a clove of garlic and I chop it.
Then, I cut the asparagus in four.
I don't throw away the ends, I keep them to make an asparagus broth.
I put the ends of the asparagus in a blender.
I add a bit of water to the blender with the middle of the stalks
and I blend until I get a creamy texture,
and I don't throw away the ends.
I add a bit of water to make an asparagus broth.
Next step: heat a frying pan over medium heat.
Let's pour in some olive oil and add the garlic.
When the garlic becomes slightly golden,
I add the middles of the asparagus stalks.
Then I pour in the asparagus mixture.
I let it cook.
Always stir the sauce, very often, it's very important.
I add water from the asparagus stock from time to time.
I let it cook, but I keep an eye on it.
I pour in half the bowl of herbs and sprinkle with oregano,
salt and pepper.
It takes about 30 to 45 minutes.
And I stir, stir, stir,
until I get a very tender consistency.
While I let it simmer, we're going to make art.
The first time Louis did a portrait for me was a few years ago.
I came back from Italy and...
Yes, I was all dressed in black.
I felt like a nun,
and it was a beautiful moment.
Painting is meditating.
Cooking is meditating.
Doing both together
is a moment out of time and you indulge yourself.
It's nice to surrender.
He expresses beauty through his paintings
and I try to express beauty through my cooking.
Louis and I like to romanticize things.
We bring a sense of wonder to the ordinary
and I think that's how life should be.
I have to go back to the kitchen to check the asparagus.
So...
I'll cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water.
Then I'll look at the sauce. It looks pretty good to me.
I steam the asparagus heads,
but I make sure to keep the crunchiness.
It takes about 3 to 4 minutes.
I remove my spaghetti al dente, very important, al dente.
I put the spaghetti in the pan with the sauce using a large spoon.
I mix well and add the pasta water.
I sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, lots and lots of it.
Yes, it's good.
Then I pour it into a big bowl.
So good.
Perfect!
That's my asparagus pasta,
with the herbs thrown in at the end.
There you go!
It's ready.
Eat quickly, the pasta won't wait.